Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy
Plants are known to have many secondary metabolites and phytochemical compounds which are highly explored at biochemical and molecular genetics level and exploited enormously in the human health care sector. However, there are other less explored small molecular weight proteins, which inhibit protea...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016
|
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5143346/ |
| id |
pubmed-5143346 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
pubmed-51433462016-12-22 Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy Srikanth, Sandhya Chen, Zhong Pharmacology Plants are known to have many secondary metabolites and phytochemical compounds which are highly explored at biochemical and molecular genetics level and exploited enormously in the human health care sector. However, there are other less explored small molecular weight proteins, which inhibit proteases/proteinases. Plants are good sources of protease inhibitors (PIs) which protect them against diseases, insects, pests, and herbivores. In the past, proteinaceous PIs were considered primarily as protein-degrading enzymes. Nevertheless, this view has significantly changed and PIs are now treated as very important signaling molecules in many biological activities such as inflammation, apoptosis, blood clotting and hormone processing. In recent years, PIs have been examined extensively as therapeutic agents, primarily to deal with various human cancers. Interestingly, many plant-based PIs are also found to be effective against cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases and neurological disorders. Several plant PIs are under further evaluation in in vitro clinical trials. Among all types of PIs, Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI) have been studied extensively in the treatment of many diseases, especially in the field of cancer prevention. So far, crops such as beans, potatoes, barley, squash, millet, wheat, buckwheat, groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, corn, and pineapple have been identified as good sources of PIs. The PI content of such foods has a significant influence on human health disorders, particularly in the regions where people mostly depend on these kind of foods. These natural PIs vary in concentration, protease specificity, heat stability, and sometimes several PIs may be present in the same species or tissue. However, it is important to carry out individual studies to identify the potential effects of each PI on human health. PIs in plants make them incredible sources to determine novel PIs with specific pharmacological and therapeutic effects due to their peculiarity and superabundance. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC5143346/ /pubmed/28008315 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00470 Text en Copyright © 2016 Srikanth and Chen. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Srikanth, Sandhya Chen, Zhong |
| spellingShingle |
Srikanth, Sandhya Chen, Zhong Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| author_facet |
Srikanth, Sandhya Chen, Zhong |
| author_sort |
Srikanth, Sandhya |
| title |
Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| title_short |
Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| title_full |
Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| title_fullStr |
Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Plant Protease Inhibitors in Therapeutics-Focus on Cancer Therapy |
| title_sort |
plant protease inhibitors in therapeutics-focus on cancer therapy |
| description |
Plants are known to have many secondary metabolites and phytochemical compounds which are highly explored at biochemical and molecular genetics level and exploited enormously in the human health care sector. However, there are other less explored small molecular weight proteins, which inhibit proteases/proteinases. Plants are good sources of protease inhibitors (PIs) which protect them against diseases, insects, pests, and herbivores. In the past, proteinaceous PIs were considered primarily as protein-degrading enzymes. Nevertheless, this view has significantly changed and PIs are now treated as very important signaling molecules in many biological activities such as inflammation, apoptosis, blood clotting and hormone processing. In recent years, PIs have been examined extensively as therapeutic agents, primarily to deal with various human cancers. Interestingly, many plant-based PIs are also found to be effective against cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases and neurological disorders. Several plant PIs are under further evaluation in in vitro clinical trials. Among all types of PIs, Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI) have been studied extensively in the treatment of many diseases, especially in the field of cancer prevention. So far, crops such as beans, potatoes, barley, squash, millet, wheat, buckwheat, groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, corn, and pineapple have been identified as good sources of PIs. The PI content of such foods has a significant influence on human health disorders, particularly in the regions where people mostly depend on these kind of foods. These natural PIs vary in concentration, protease specificity, heat stability, and sometimes several PIs may be present in the same species or tissue. However, it is important to carry out individual studies to identify the potential effects of each PI on human health. PIs in plants make them incredible sources to determine novel PIs with specific pharmacological and therapeutic effects due to their peculiarity and superabundance. |
| publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5143346/ |
| _version_ |
1613764273654202368 |