Atividade moduladora da lectina isolada das sementes de Canavalia brasiliensis

Abstract

Lectins are proteins that bind specifically and reversibly to carbohydrates, showing several biological effects. In this work, we carried out a literature review about biological effects of lectin extracted from seeds of Canavalia brasiliensis (ConBr), a plant present in the northeastern and southern Brazil, which is popularly known as wild bean of Ceará. In addition, we carried out a study to analyze the modulating activity of ConBr on murine splenocytes, verifying its effect on cell viability and proliferation, cytokine and nitric oxide (NO) production. We have also performed a study to evaluate ConBr effect on B16F10 murine melanoma cells by analyzing the inhibition of cell proliferation and migration as well as apoptosis induction and synthesis of cytokines and NO. The results show that ConBr induced at concentrations of 2.5, 5.0 and 10 μg/ml promoted the proliferation of splenocytes, with high cell viability. Furthermore, the concentration of 10 μg/ml induced cytokine production and nitric oxide on B16F10 murine melanoma, it was observed that ConBr inhibited tumor cell proliferation inducing apoptosis. It was also observed nitric oxide and IL-12 production by B16F10 cells under stimulus. ConBr lectin possesses a biotechnological potential use as a mitogen and anti-tumor agent.