Tuna trimmings (Thunnas albacares) hydrolysate alleviates immune stress and intestinal mucosal injury during chemotherapy on mice and identification of potentially active peptides

Xiangtan Zhao; Bingna Cai; Hua Chen; Peng Wan; Deke Chen; Ziqing Ye; Ailing Duan; Xin Chen; Huili Sun; Jianyu Pan

doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100547

Tuna trimmings (Thunnas albacares) hydrolysate alleviates immune stress and intestinal mucosal injury during chemotherapy on mice and identification of potentially active peptides

Curr Res Food Sci. 2023 Jul 6:7:100547. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100547. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiangtan Zhao^{1

2

3}, Bingna Cai^{1

4}, Hua Chen^{1

4}, Peng Wan^{1

4}, Deke Chen^{1

4}, Ziqing Ye^{1

2

3}, Ailing Duan^{1

2

3}, Xin Chen⁵, Huili Sun¹, Jianyu Pan^{1

4

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510301, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering (ISEE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
⁴ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory(Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China.
⁵ Foshan University, School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Foshan, 528000, China.

Abstract

In this study, Tuna trimmings (Thunnas albacares) protein hydrolysate (TPA) was produced by alcalase. The anti-tumor synergistic effect and intestinal mucosa protective effect of TPA on S180 tumor-bearing mice treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy were investigated. The results showed that TPA can enhance the anti-tumor effect of 5-FU chemotherapy, as evident by a significant reduction in tumor volume observed in the medium and high dose TPA+5-FU groups compared to the 5-FU group (p < 0.001). Moreover, TPA significantly elevated the content of total protein and albumin in all TPA dose groups (p < 0.01, p < 0.001), indicating its ability to regulate the nutritional status of the mice. Furthermore, histopathological studies revealed a significant increase in the height of small intestinal villi, crypt depth, mucosal thickness, and villi area in the TPA+5-FU groups compared to the 5-FU group (p < 0.05), suggesting that TPA has a protective effect on the intestinal mucosa. Amino acid analysis revealed that TPA had a total amino acid content of 66.30 g/100 g, with essential amino acids accounting for 30.36 g/100 g. Peptide molecular weight distribution analysis of TPA indicated that peptides ranging from 0.25 to 1 kDa constituted 64.54%. LC-MS/MS analysis identified 109 peptide sequences, which were predicted to possess anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities through database prediction. Therefore, TPA has the potential to enhance the antitumor effects of 5-FU, mitigate immune depression and intestinal mucosal damage induced by 5-FU. Thus, TPA could be serve as an adjuvant nutritional support for malnourished patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Keywords: Anti-tumor; Chemotherapy; Immune regulation; Intestinal mucosal damage; Protein hydrolysate; Tuna trimmings.