• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2009

Lunasin is a unique 43-amino acid peptide which has shown a chemopreventive in mammalian cells and in a skin cancer mouse model. In search for new sources of lunasin and the role of cereals in cancer prevention, we report here the properties of lunasin purified from millet. Stability of millet lunasin was measured by in vitro digestibility assay using pepsin and pancreatin. Inhibition of HAT (histone acetyltransferase) and nuclear localization in mammalian cells were used to measure lunasin bioactivity as the cancer chemopreventive agent. Lunasin present in millet crude protein was stable to pepsin and pancreatin in in vitro digestion and inhibited the activities of HATs. When added exogenously, lunasin purified from millet internalized in the nuclei of mouse fibroblast cells. On the base of this result, we conclude that lunasin in millet is bioactive and consumption of millet may play an important role on cancer prevention in millet-consuming populations.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.528-535
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• 2005

The non-enzymatic anti-oxidants and lunasin peptide from the extracts of the pepper were examined in order to utilize the discovery in natural products as cancer chemopreventive agents. The DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity on the fruit parts of the pepper was higher than that of the seed, but the difference was low. The Inhibition activity of xanthine/ xanthine oxidase in extracts of the seed was higher than that of the fruit and that of the seed on 20 days after flowering was the highest at the growing period. These were identified as fatty acids and phenolic compounds such as 1-eicosanol, palmitic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid and benzonitrile. The contents of fatty acids and phenolic compounds increased according to the time passing at the growing period. Peroxidase (POD) activity of the fruit at middle stage was high than that of other growing stages and that of the seed was the highest at later growing period. Though superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in fruit were hish by passage of Slowing stage, the activity in seed was low. Lunasin was searched from seeds of the peppers by coomassie blue staining and western blot among them and we just found lunasin peptide from extracted protein of the pepper by western blot. In addition, we observed the contents of lunasin after flowering and confirmed to appear the lunasin at 35 days after flowering. We confirmed that lunasin is complex protein of maturing seeds. 100nM lunasin peptide in pepper showed inhibition effect on colony formation in $2\~12$ cells.