Identification of Novel Pathways in Plant Lectin-Induced Cancer Cell Apoptosis

Abstract

Plant lectins have been investigated to elucidate their complicated mechanisms due to their remarkable anticancer activities. Although plant lectins seems promising as a potential anticancer agent for further preclinical and clinical uses, further research is still urgently needed and should include more focus on molecular mechanisms. Herein, a Naïve Bayesian model was developed to predict the protein-protein interaction (PPI), and thus construct the global human PPI network. Moreover, multiple sources of biological data, such as smallest shared biological process (SSBP), domain-domain interaction (DDI), gene co-expression profiles and cross-species interolog mapping were integrated to build the core apoptotic PPI network. In addition, we further modified it into a plant lectin-induced apoptotic cell death context. Then, we identified 22 apoptotic hub proteins in mesothelioma cells according to their different microarray expressions. Subsequently, we used combinational methods to predict microRNAs (miRNAs) which could negatively regulate the abovementioned hub proteins. Together, we demonstrated the ability of our Naïve Bayesian model-based network for identifying novel plant lectin-treated cancer cell apoptotic pathways. These findings may provide new clues concerning plant lectins as potential apoptotic inducers for cancer drug discovery.

New Lectins from Mediterranean Flora. Activity against HT29 Colon Cancer Cells

“…Several lectins have been found to possess anticancer properties in vitro, in vivo, and in human case studies. Lectins inhibit the growth of tumor cells by imposing cytotoxic effects (immunomodulatory and anti-metastatic) and mediating apoptosis [3].…”

Human Chitotriosidase: Catalytic Domain or Carbohydrate Binding Module, Who’s Leading HCHT’s Biological Function

“…Defense proteins, including lectins, are known to play a crucial role in the initiation of innate immune mechanisms 4 . These carbohydrate binding proteins include numerous members, which are notably synthetized by many organisms including plants and animals, thereby highlighting their ubiquity and necessity for survival 5 . Some of these lectins are able to bind reversibly to chitin and include a conserved structural motif termed “hevein-fold”; which is rich in polar and aromatic residues 6 .…”

Functional characterization of chitin-binding lectin from Solanum integrifolium containing anti-fungal and insecticidal activities

“…These results suggest that CBLs affect sf21 insect cell growth conditions via carbohydrate recognition and depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential. In the future, engineering the insect cell N-glycan processing pathway [ 31 ], based on rapid assays for lectin binding changes [ 32 ] and lectin toxicity induced apoptosis [ 33 ] will rapidly characterize the glycan recognition and function of lectins. These data give information for glycomic profiling and will help applications of glycomic analysis and technique development, and may be useful as particularly for biomedical therapeutic applications [ 34 ].…”