Biological properties of yeast-based mannoprotein for prospective biomedical applications

Background: Natural products constitute more than half of all biomolecules lately being used in clinical settings. Mannoprotein derived from the yeast cell wall has found full biotechnological applications.

Objective: This study was intended to investigate antioxidant, anticancer, and toxicological properties of Kluyveromyces marxianus mannoprotein (KM).

Methods: The KM extract was obtained through a sequence of operations, including centrifugation for cell isolation, precipi-tation with potassium citrate/ sodium metabisulfite, and recovery and purification. Its antioxidant, growth inhibition, macro-phage mitogenic, and toxic activities were evaluated for its future use in the biomedical field.

Results: Significantly inhibitory effects of KM were obtained on reactive species. It showed antiproliferative activity against HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma) and MCF-7 (human breast cancer) cell lines with no toxic effects on HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells). The in vitro model of CHO-K1 (Chinese hamster ovary) cell lines did not show the cytotoxic and genotoxic of KM. Also, it enhanced macrophage activity in terms of nitric oxide (NO) production and viabil-ity. No sign of acute toxicity was found in BALB/c mice, and body weight remained unchanged in guinea pigs over three months.

Conclusion: Comprehensive biological evaluations in this study are expected to expand the potential of KM as a natural material.

Keywords: BALB/c mice; Yeasts; guinea pigs; macrophage; polysaccharide; tumour cell line.