Bio-Availability, Anticancer Potential, and Chemical Data of Lycopene: An Overview and Technological Prospecting

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to collect relevant chemical data about lycopene and its isomers, which can be extracted using different non-polar or polar aprotic solvents by SC-CO2 or biosynthesis as a friendly technique. Lycopene and other carotenoids can be identified and quantified by UV–Vis and HPLC using a C18 or C30 column, while their characterization is possible by UV–Vis, Fluorescence, FTIR, MS, NMR, and DSC assays. Among these techniques, the last four can compare lycopene isomers and identify cis or all-trans-lycopene. FTIR, MS, and NMR techniques are more suitable for the verification of the purity of lycopene extracts due to the signal complexity generated for each isomer, which enables identification by subtle differences. Additionally, some biological activities of lycopene isolated from red vegetables have already been confirmed, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, probably by activating several pathways. The encapsulation of lycopene in nanoparticles demonstrated an improvement in oral delivery, and ex vivo assessments determined that these nanoparticles had better permeation and low cytotoxicity against human cells with enhanced permeation. These data suggest that lycopene has the potential to be applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in cosmetic products.

GC–MS analysis, cytotoxicity, and molecular docking studies of bioactive alkaloids extracted from tomato leaves inoculated with endophytic fungus Beauveria sp. AUMC 15401

“…AUMC 15401 colonization into tomatoes could stimulate the secretion of other important biologically active metabolites that showed a promising cytotoxic effect. Several studies showed that different tomato extracts have promising cytotoxic activity against different cancer cell lines (Amorim et al, 2022; Guil‐Guerrero et al, 2011). Therefore, we further investigated the potential molecular mechanism of the cytotoxic activity of tomato extract by studying its inhibition against the main proteins that are involved in lung cancer development.…”

“…AUMC 15401 colonization into tomatoes could stimulate the secretion of other important biologically active metabolites that showed a promising cytotoxic effect. Several studies showed that different tomato extracts have promising cytotoxic activity against different cancer cell lines (Amorim et al, 2022;Guil-Guerrero et al, 2011).…”

Improving Whole Tomato Transformation for Prostate Health: Benign Prostate Hypertrophy as an Exploratory Model

“…Lycopene, which is contained in all tomato dietary sources, mainly in the low bioavailable trans isomeric form [ 39 ], is endowed with a large range of biological activities, which are also retained by its metabolites [ 40 ]. Its bioavailability, on the other hand, can be affected by a number of factors [ 39 , 41 , 42 ] and, differently from the trans isomeric form [ 43 ], the biologically active cis lycopene, which is produced mainly by heating the fruit [ 44 ], concentrates on definite anatomical sites, which include the prostate [ 39 ].…”

The Anticancer Potential of Plant-Derived Nutraceuticals via the Modulation of Gene Expression

“…A recommendation has been issued to add a minimum of 10 g of fat in culinary preparations containing processed tomato products and 15 g of fat in fresh tomato recipes, respectively [ 248 ]. The encapsulation in nanoparticles of the lycopene extracted from food sources or biosynthesized also seems to help in solving its bioavailability issues and capitalizing on its nutraceutical potential [ 255 ].…”