Ex vivo and in vitro assessment of anti-inflammatory activity of seed beta-conglutin proteins from Lupinus angustifolius

Abstract

The development of functional food ingredients using legume seed proteins has potential for nutraceutical use. We purified recombinant beta-conglutin proteins (r beta 1 to r beta 4, and r beta 6) from narrow-leafed lupin using affinity-chromatography, and evaluated their anti-inflammatory activity using ex vivo and in vitro systems. r beta 1, r beta 3, and r beta 6 produced lower levels of pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (about -34.0-fold in all cases), iNOS mRNA (-7.15, -7.97, -7.41-fold), interleukin 1 beta (-12.05, -11.64, -12.16-fold), chemokine CCL5 (-16.0, -18.0, -19.0-fold), and cytokines including TNF-alpha, INF-gamma, IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-12 (beta 1: -28, -100, -8, -2, -49, -45, -127-fold; beta 3: -22, -400, -9, -3, -33, -10, -2.54-fold; beta 6:-72, -122, -11, -3, -2000, -13, -338-fold).These results suggest that the beta 1, beta 3, and beta 6 conglutins have potential as functional food components in nutraceuticals and that can provide alternative therapies for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory related diseases.