The application of plant extracts for therapeutic purposes has been used in traditional medicine since the plants are a source of a great variety of chemical compounds that possess biological activity. Actually, the effect of these extracts on diseases such as cancer is being widely studied. Colorectal adenocarcinoma is one of the main causes of cancer related to death and the second most prevalent carcinoma in Western countries. The aim of this work is to study the possible effect of two fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) protein hydrolysates on treatment and progression of colorectal cancer. Fenugreek proteins from seeds were hydrolysed by using two enzymes separately, which are named Purafect and Esperase, and were then tested on differentiated and undifferentiated human colonic adenocarcinoma Caco2/TC7 cells. Both hydrolysates did not affect the growth of differentiated cells, while they caused a decrease in undifferentiated cell proliferation by early apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in phase G1. This was triggered by a mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, cytochrome C release to cytoplasm, and caspase-3 activation. In addition, the hydrolysates of fenugreek proteins displayed antioxidant activity since they reduce the intracellular levels of ROS. These findings suggest that fenugreek protein hydrolysates could be used as nutraceutical molecules in colorectal cancer treatment.
Keywords: Caco2 cells; antioxidant; antiproliferative; apoptosis; fenugreek; protein hydrolysate.