University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
May 1999
http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/NB/99.05/plantip.html
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Instead of traveling to Brazil's tropical rain
forest or diving into the ocean, a team of University of Illinois
scientists are looking for disease-fighting compounds closer to
home, harvesting potential agents from the trash piles of
byproducts at crop-processing plants.
Initial laboratory tests on cultured mammalian and human cells
indicate an ethanol extract of soybean molasses represses the
ability of at least one dietary carcinogen to damage the DNA of
normal cells, the researchers report.
A report is being published in the May issue of Agricultural
Research Magazine. More details will appear later in the journal
"Teratogenesis, Carcinogenesis and Mutagenesis." At the
Environmental Mutagen Society Meeting, March 27 to April 1, in
Washington, D.C., the team announced that the structure of the
active compound -- named phytochemical complex 100 (PCC 100) --
contains a combination of chemicals known as saponins. Very
little work has been done on their biological effects.
The team also reported at the meeting that PCC suppresses the
growth rate of cancer cells and that an isolated soy-protein
fraction drastically reduces the growth rate of human colon
cancer. The work was based on a newly developed cell-growth
kinetic assay.
The soy protein finding did not come as a surprise, because the
apparent positive effects of soy protein and its estrogen-like
isoflavones have been documented. But the still-evolving
technique may allow scientists to more precisely identify the
specific protein agents and the anti-cancer mechanisms that are
involved, said team leader Michael J. Plewa, a geneticist in the
department of crop sciences.
"It is strange to be running off to the rain forest to yank up
weird plants when we may already be sitting on mountains of very
useful pharmaceutical agents in our own corn and soybean fields,"
he said. "During crop processing, raw materials are modified by
mechanical disruption, chemical extraction and changes in
temperatures and pressures. Agents you take out of plants for
food or processing products may not necessarily be the ones that
are actually in the plants or seeds themselves. They may have
been modified."
Plewa's team includes U. of I. colleagues A. Lane Rayburn, B.A.
Francis and several students, and M. Berhow of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Collaborative work is continuing with
BIBRA International in the United Kingdom and Archer Daniels
Midland Co. in Decatur, Ill. Funding for exploring the byproducts
and developing assays to find anti-mutagens and anti-carcinogens
comes from the U.S. Soybean Board and Illinois Soybean Operating
Board.
"We are looking to prevent environmental carcinogens ingested in
our diet from affecting normal cells in our bodies, and to
isolate agents that slow down the growth rate of already existing
cancer cells," Plewa said. "If we can repress their growth, we
might be able to extend the use and heighten the effectiveness
of therapeutic drugs, chemotherapy and radiation."
CONTACT: Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor (217) 333-5802 E-mail:
b-james3@uiuc.edu
News Bureau University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 807 S.
Wright St., Suite 520 East Champaign, IL 61820-6219 (217)
333-1085 fax (217) 244-0161 e-mail: uinews@uiuc.edu
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