Lunasin

Lunasin is a peptide that can be found in soy, barley, wheat,{{cite journal |pmid=18727555 |year=2008 |last1=De Lumen |first1=BO |title=Lunasin: A novel cancer preventive seed peptide that modifies chromatin |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=932–5 |journal=Journal of AOAC International|doi=10.1093/jaoac/91.4.932 |doi-access=free }} and rye. It is also found in grains originating in the American continents, such as Amaranthus hypochondriacus.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jcs.2012.04.004 |title=Discovery of lunasin peptide in triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) |year=2012 |last1=Nakurte |first1=Ilva |last2=Klavins |first2=Kristaps |last3=Kirhnere |first3=Inga |last4=Namniece |first4=Jana |last5=Adlere |first5=Liene |last6=Matvejevs |first6=Jaroslavs |last7=Kronberga |first7=Arta |last8=Kokare |first8=Aina |last9=Strazdina |first9=Vija |last10=Legzdina |first10=Linda |last11=Muceniece |first11=Ruta |journal=Journal of Cereal Science |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=510|display-authors=8 }} This polypeptide was originally isolated, purified, and sequenced from soybean seed in 1987. Although uncertain about the peptide's biological activity, the Japanese team of researchers described it as a 43-amino acid peptide, noting specifically the unusual poly (L-aspartic acid) sequence at the carboxyl terminus.{{cite journal |pmid=3611081 |year=1987 |last1=Odani |first1=S |last2=Koide |first2=T |last3=Ono |first3=T |title=Amino acid sequence of a soybean (Glycine max) seed polypeptide having a poly(L-aspartic acid) structure |volume=262 |issue=22 |pages=10502–5 |journal=The Journal of Biological Chemistry|doi=10.1016/S0021-9258(18)60989-5 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |doi=10.1207/s15327914nc4701_11 |title=Lunasin™ Suppresses E1A-Mediated Transformation of Mammalian Cells but Does Not Inhibit Growth of Immortalized and Established Cancer Cell Lines |year=2003 |last1=Lam |first1=Yi |last2=Galvez |first2=Alfredo |last3=De Lumen |first3=Ben O. |journal=Nutrition and Cancer |volume=47 |pages=88–94 |pmid=14769542 |issue=1|s2cid=41839348 }} Subsequent research by Alfredo Galvez in the laboratory of Ben de Lumen at the University of California–Berkeley identified the peptide as a subunit of the cotyledon-specific 2S albumin."A novel methionine-rich protein from soybean cotyledon: cloning and characterization of cDNA (Accession No. AF005030)" in {{cite journal |pmid=12223786 |year=1997 |title=The Electronic Plant Gene Register |volume=114 |issue=4 |pages=1567–9 |pmc=158452 |journal=Plant Physiology |url=http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12223786 |doi=10.1104/pp.114.4.1567 }} The name of the protein was chosen from the Filipino word lunas, which means "cure".{{cite web |url=http://nst.berkeley.edu/faculty/delumen.html |title=Lunasin: a Cancer Preventive Peptide in Seeds |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=November 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124025333/http://nst.berkeley.edu/faculty/delumen.html |archive-date=November 24, 2012 }}{{cite journal |first1=Alfredo F. |last1=Galvez |first2=Na |last2=Chen |first3=Janet |last3=Macasieb |first4=Ben O. |last4=de Lumen |title=Chemopreventive Property of a Soybean Peptide (Lunasin) That Binds to Deacetylated Histones and Inhibits Acetylation |journal=Cancer Research |url=http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=11606382 |pmid=11606382 |year=2001 |volume=61 |issue=20 |pages=7473–8}}

Lunasin was patented as a biologic molecule in 1999 by de Lumen and Galvez.{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/WO1999015642A1/un|title= Patent: Lunasin peptides, WO 1999015642 A1}}

The biological activity of lunasin was discovered by Galvez while working in the laboratory of de Lumen at UC Berkeley.{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/8676 |year=1999 |last1=De Lumen |first1=Benito O. |last2=Galvez |first2=Alfredo F. |journal=Nature Biotechnology |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=495–500 |pmid=10331812 |title=A soybean cDNA encoding a chromatin-binding peptide inhibits mitosis of mammalian cells|s2cid=1217873 }}

There has been much research interest in the biomedical aspects of lunasin but the high cost of synthesizing lunasin made experimentation difficult.{{cite journal |vauthors=Ortiz-Martinez M, Winkler R, García-Lara S |title=Preventive and therapeutic potential of peptides from cereals against cancer |journal=J Proteomics |volume= 111C|pages= 165–183|date=April 2014 |pmid=24727098 |doi=10.1016/j.jprot.2014.03.044 |type=Review}} This limitation has been overcome by the development of methods to isolate highly purified lunasin from soybean white flake, a byproduct of soybean processing.{{cite journal |vauthors=Seber LE, Barnett BW, McConnell EJ, Hume SD, Cai J, Boles K, Davis KR |title=Scalable purification and characterization of the anticancer lunasin peptide from soybean |journal=PLOS ONE |volume= 7|issue= 4|pages= e35409|date=April 2012 |pmid=22514740 |pmc=3326064 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0035409|bibcode=2012PLoSO...735409S |doi-access=free }} In laboratory and animal experiments lunasin has shown anti-carcinogenic activity that suggests it may have chemopreventive potential.{{cite journal |vauthors=Hernández-Ledesma B, Hsieh CC, de Lumen BO |title=Chemopreventive properties of Peptide Lunasin: a review |journal=Protein Pept. Lett. |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=424–32 |date=April 2013 |pmid=23016582 |type=Review |doi=10.2174/092986613805290327}}

In 2014, a local news program reported that a person with ALS named Mike McDuff had experienced dramatic improvements in speech, swallowing and limb strength while taking a supplement regimen containing lunasin.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U16BK61xic|title = 'Superfoods' may be effective treatments for chronic diseases|website = YouTube| date=15 May 2014 }}{{better source|date=April 2025}} ALSUntangled{{cite web |url=http://www.alsuntangled.org/ |title=Home |website=alsuntangled.org}} investigated and was able to confirm that Mike McDuff had progressive muscular atrophy, a "lower motor neuron" form of ALS, and really did experience dramatic and objective improvements.ALS 2014;15:622-626

Since one possible explanation for these improvements was the use of lunasin, Dr. Richard Bedlack of the Duke ALS Clinic decided to perform a clinical trial. Fifty people with ALS were put on the exact Lunasin containing regimen that Mike McDuff had taken and were followed for a year. The trial finished in September 2017. Unfortunately, there was no evidence that lunasin slowed, stopped or reversed ALS in any of the trial participants. Gastrointestinal side effects were more common than expected in trial participants, including cases of constipation severe enough to warrant hospitalization.{{Cite journal|url=https://f1000research.com/posters/6-2118|doi = 10.7490/f1000research.1115143.1|year = 2017|last1 = Bedlack|first1 = Richard|last2 = Spector|first2 = Alicia|last3 = Morgan|first3 = Elizabeth|last4 = Wicks|first4 = Paul|last5 = Vaughan|first5 = Timothy|last6 = Blum|first6 = Rebecca|last7 = Dios|first7 = Amanda|author8 = Ghazaleh Sadri-Vakili|title = Final results from an open-label, single-center, hybrid-virtual 12-month trial of Lunasin for patients with ALS|journal = F1000Research|volume = 6 | doi-access=free }} Bedlack concluded that lunasin was not a useful treatment for ALS and that Mike McDuff likely had some other explanation for his ALS reversal such as an ALS mimic syndrome or a genetic resistance to the disease.{{cite web |url=http://www.alsreversals.com/star.html |title=ALS Reversals - St.A.R. |website=www.alsreversals.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421223924/http://www.alsreversals.com/star.html |archive-date=2015-04-21}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://Lunasin.com Lunasin research repository]
• [http://Lunamd.com LunaMD Lunasin]

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Category:Soy products

Category:Peptides

Category:Cancer research