Title:Preclinical Evidence on the Anticancer Properties of Food Peptides
Volume: 24
Issue: 2
Author(s): Subin R.C.K. Rajendran, Chukwunonso E.C.C. Ejike, Min Gong, William Hannah and Chibuike C. Udenigwe
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Bioactive peptides, anticancer, apoptosis, cancer, functional foods, nutraceuticals.
Abstract: Natural, synthetic and analogues of peptides have shown prospects for application in cancer
chemotherapy. Notably, some food protein-derived peptides are known to possess anticancer
activities in cultured cancer cells, and also in animal cancer models via different mechanisms including
induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, cellular membrane disruption, inhibition of intracellular
signalling, topoisomerases and proteases, and antiangiogenic activity. Although the mechanism of
several anticancer food peptides is yet to be clearly elucidated, there is potential for practical applications
of the peptides as functional food and nutraceutical ingredients, especially in adjuvant cancer
therapy. This review describes the aetiological mechanisms of cancers and the production, structures,
mechanisms of action, availability, and cellular and physiological anticancer activities of the food
peptides.
