Because the first step in the triggering of food allergy is the permeation of the allergen through the intestine, enhancement of the intestinal barrier function is thought to be effective for preventing food allergy. In this study, a peptide that inhibits ovalbumin (OVA) permeation in an in vitro Caco-2 cell model was isolated from enzymatic hydrolyzate of cheese (EHC). Amino acid sequence analysis identified the active peptide as GPIVLNPWDQ, a sequence identical to amino acids 102-111 of alphas2-casein. The decapeptide significantly inhibited OVA permeation at a concentration of 10(-6) M. In addition, it was found that a pentapeptide half, NPWDQ, is essential for the inhibitory activity because NPWDQ but not GPIVL had nearly the same inhibitory activity as GPIVLNPWDQ. The possibility exists that EHC and/or peptides possessing the NPWDQ sequence can be practically applied to the prevention of food allergy.
It has been shown that angiogenesis plays an important role in pathological conditions including the growth of solid tumors. Furthermore, it is thought that anti-angiogenic agents might be clinically useful for therapy of these diseases. TNP-470 (TNP), a synthetic analog of fumagillin isolated from Aspergillus fumigatus, was used as an anti-angiogenic agent in this study in a nude mouse model with a subcutaneously implanted fragment of medulloblastoma. After treatment with this agent for 4 weeks, the inhibition rates of tumor growth were as follows: 15.9% in the group given 1 mg/kg, 16.9% with 10 mg/kg, 29.6% with 30 mg/kg, 49.9% with 50 mg/kg and 65.7% with 100 mg/kg. TNP inhibited the growth of brain tumor dose-dependently and induced various ischemic changes within the tumor tissue. Therefore, TNP may be effective for the treatment of malignant brain tumors such as medulloblastoma.
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