In vitro reduction of peroxidation in UVC-irradiated cell cultures by concurrent exposure with Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor

Soybean Bioactive Peptides and Their Functional Properties

Soy consumption has been associated with many potential health benefits in reducing chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, insulin-resistance/type II diabetes, certain type of cancers, and immune disorders. These physiological functions have been attributed to soy proteins either as intact soy protein or more commonly as functional or bioactive peptides derived from soybean processing. These findings have led to the approval of a health claim in the USA regarding the ability of soy proteins in reducing the risk for coronary heart disease and the acceptance of a health claim in Canada that soy protein can help lower cholesterol levels. Using different approaches, many soy bioactive peptides that have a variety of physiological functions such as hypolipidemic, anti-hypertensive, and anti-cancer properties, and anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects have been identified. Some soy peptides like lunasin and soymorphins possess more than one of these properties and play a role in the prevention of multiple chronic diseases. Overall, progress has been made in understanding the functional and bioactive components of soy. However, more studies are required to further identify their target organs, and elucidate their biological mechanisms of action in order to be potentially used as functional foods or even therapeutics for the prevention or treatment of chronic diseases.

Bowman-Birk inhibitors from legumes as colorectal chemopreventive agents

Aberrant functioning of serine proteases in inflammatory and carcinogenic processes within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) has prompted scientists to investigate the potential of serine protease inhibitors, both natural and synthetic, as modulators of their proteolytic activities. Protease inhibitors of the Bowman-Birk type, a major protease inhibitor family in legume seeds, which inhibit potently and specifically trypsin- and chymotrypsin-like proteases, are currently being investigated as colorectal chemopreventive agents. Physiologically relevant amounts of Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI) can reach the large intestine in active form due to their extraordinary resistance to extreme conditions within the GIT. Studies in animal models have proven that dietary BBI from several legume sources, including soybean, pea, lentil and chickpea, can prevent or suppress carcinogenic and inflammatory processes within the GIT. Although the therapeutic targets and the action mechanism of BBI have not yet been elucidated, the emerging evidence suggests that BBI exert their preventive properties via protease inhibition; in this sense, serine proteases should be considered as primary targets in early stages of carcinogenesis. The validation of candidate serine proteases as therapeutic targets together with the identification, within the wide array of natural BBI variants, of the most potent and specific protease inhibitors, are necessary to better understand the potential of this protein family as colorectal chemopreventive agents.

The biochemical and functional food properties of the bowman-birk inhibitor

The Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) is a small water-soluble protein present in soybean and almost all monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous seeds. The molecular size of BBI ranges from 1,513 Da to about 20,000 Da. BBI is to seeds what alpha(1)-antitrypsin is to humans. Soy-based food products rich in BBI include soybean grits, soymilk, oilcake, soybean isolate, and soybean protein concentrate. BBI is stable within the pH range encountered in most foods, can withstand boiling water temperature for 10 min, resistant to the pH range and proteolytic enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract, bioavailable, and not allergenic. BBI reduces the proteolytic activities of trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, cathepsin G, and chymase, serine protease-dependent matrix metalloproteinases, urokinase protein activator, mitogen activated protein kinase, and PI3 kinase, and upregulates connexin 43 (Cx43) expression. Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of BBI against tumor cells in vitro, animal models, and human phase IIa clinical trials. FDA considers BBI as a drug. In 1999, FDA allowed a health claim on food labels stating that a daily diet containing 25 grams of soy protein, also low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease [corrected] This review highlights the biochemical and functional food properties of the Bowman-Birk inhibitor.

Monoclonal Antibodies Against Soybean Bowman-Birk Inhibitor Recognize the Protease-Reactive Loops

Monoclonal antibodies against soybean Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) have been generated and used to detect and quantify BBI in foods, soybean germplasm, and animal tissues and fluids. The purpose of this study was to determine the recognition sites of two monoclonal antibodies to BBI (mAb 238 and mAb 217) in relation to the protease-inhibitory sites of BBI. The results showed that (1) the binding of mAb 238 can be blocked by trypsin and that of mAb 217 by chymotrypsin; (2) the trypsin or chymotrypsin inhibitory activities of BBI are blocked by mAb 238 or mAb 217, respectively; and (3) mAb 238 failed to recognize a tryptic loop mutant BBI variant and mAb 217 was unable to bind a chymotryptic loop mutant BBI variant. These findings demonstrate that the epitopes recognized by mAb 238 and mAb 217 reside, at least in part, in the tryptic and chymotryptic loops of BBI, respectively.

Effects of the Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor on survival of fibroblasts and cancer cells exposed to radiation and cis-platinum

The Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) is a soybean-derived anticarcinogenic protease inhibitor with anti-inflammatory activity. To assess the possibility of utilizing BBI for alleviating the side effects associated with lung cancer radiation and chemotherapy, we have determined the effects of BBI and a soybean concentrate enriched in BBI (known as BBIC) on radiation- and cis-platinum-induced cytotoxicity in A549 human lung cancer cells. The results demonstrated that neither BBI nor BBIC protected A549 cells from radiation- and cis-platinum-induced cytotoxicity. In fact, BBI and BBIC potentiated the cell-killing effects induced by cis-platinum alone, and BBIC treatment led to significantly enhanced cell killing by cis-platinum in combination with radiation treatment in the lung carcinoma cells. BBI conferred a significant protective effect onto mouse fibroblasts (10T1/2 cells) treated with cis-platinum in combination with 6 Gy of X-ray irradiation. These results suggest that BBI and BBIC, when given to lung cancer patients, are unlikely to interfere with cancer treatment utilizing radiation and cis-platinum.

Monoclonal antibodies differentially reactive with native and reductively modified Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor

Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) is a potent anticarcinogen that suppresses malignant transformation at nanomolar concentrations. Small amounts of BBI in its native form can be measured by immunoassay using specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs); however, the MAbs currently available are not capable of detecting BBI metabolites in human body fluids. To develop new reagents for the study of BBI exposure and pharmacokinetics, we produced four MAbs, designated 3B6, 3E3, 4H8 and 5G2, from hybridomas derived from a mouse immunized with reductively modified BBI. The epitopes recognized by the four MAbs were characterized using BBI in its native form or modified by different methods. MAb 3B6 reacted with native BBI. Partial reduction of BBI with 720 Gy of gamma radiation in an oxygen-free solution of 100 mM formate increased the reactivity of BBI with 3B6; however, extensive reduction of BBI with 100 mM DL-dithiothreitol (DTT) completely abolished this antigenic reactivity. In contrast, the other three MAbs reacted with BBI molecules that had been reduced either with 720 Gy of radiation in formate solution or with DTT. Alkylation of the radiochemically reduced BBI with N-ethylmaleimide further increased the reactivity of BBI with 3E3, 4H8 and 5G2, possibly by preventing the formation of new disulfide bonds within the BBI molecules. The binding of 4H8 and 5G2 to BBI antigen was inhibited by the binding of 3E3, and vice versa. Thus, the epitopes recognized by 3E3, 4H8 and 5G2 are probably located close to one another on the reduced BBI molecules. These three MAbs were able to react with BBI metabolites in urine samples collected from volunteers after oral administration of BBI. The ability of these MAbs to detect BBI metabolites indicates that BBI may be reductively modified in vivo and these MAbs may be useful reagents for monitoring the uptake of BBI into human tissues in cancer chemoprevention studies with BBI.

Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitor (BBI) modulates radiosensitivity and radiation-induced differentiation of human fibroblasts in culture

The radiosensitivity and differentiation pattern of cultured normal human fibroblasts was analysed as a function of treatment of the cells with the Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitor (BBI). Upon irradiation with doses from 0 to 8 Gy normal human fibroblasts are induced to a premature terminal differentiation within 14-21 days of postirradiation incubation. Treatment of the cells with 10 microM BBI for 2 h prior to the irradiation procedure resulted in a significant shift of the radiation survival curve, increased SF2 values 0.63 vs. 0.84 and the cell type composition of the test fibroblast cultures. Upon pretreatment with BBI the radiation-induced premature terminal differentiation of progenitor fibroblasts to postmitotic fibrocytes could significantly be inhibited. Based on this data, it can be postulated that BBI may serve as a radioprotector of normal fibroblasts which are involved in radiation-induced tissue injuries like radiation fibrosis.