Finding phytoproteins that suppress tumour

growth on gut micro environment

Sporamin from Ipomoea batatas
(sweet potato) provide the first clue

AIM METHODOLOGY
To study whether sporamin, a
Electronic databases
storage protein from sweet potato,
searching:
suppresses the growth of tumour
PubMed, Google scholar,
cells of human GI tract in vitro.
and ScienceDirect

ETHNOMEDICINAL USE
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory
family, Convolvulaceae. What does Ayurveda say? The humble sweet potato provides a tonic for the spleen,
helps to strengthen the liver, satisfies the stomach, is nutritive, supports healthy heart, circulation and eyes and
helps to restore the proper functioning of the body, especially after a long winter.

BACKGROUND FINDINGS

Fig. 2. Effects of sporamin treatment on the

Fig.1. Effects of sporamin treatment on the expression expression levels of Bcl-2, Bcl-XL and Bax in
of Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, and Bax in human pancreatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines ,
cancer cell lines, PANC-1 and BxPC-3 (western blot) EC9706 and EC109 (western blot)

Fig. 3. Effect of sweet potato

protein on human colorectal
cancer SW480 cells.
A: Effects of various
concentrations of sweet potato
protein (SPP) on SW480 cell
proliferation. Observed dose-
dependent inhibition.
B: Effect of various treatment
times with 40 μmol/L SPP on
SW480 cell proliferation. Time-
dependent inhibition observed.

C: Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining. SW480 cells were incubated in the absence or presence of various
concentrations of SPP for 48 h, stained with Hoechst 33258 dye, and observed under a fluorescent
microscope.
RESULTS
Sporamin exerts significant anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic effects by
inducing apoptosis of human gut cell lines.
Reference:
1. Qian C, Chen X, Qi Y, et al. Sporamin induces apoptosis and inhibits NF-κB activation in human pancreatic cancer cells. Tumor Biology. 2017;39(7).
doi:10.1177/1010428317706917
2. Qian, C., Qi, Y., Chen, X., Zeng, J., & Yao, J. (2017). Sporamin suppresses growth of human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells by inhibition of
NF-κB via an AKT-independent pathway. Molecular Medicine Reports, 16, 9620-9626. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2017.7772
3. Li PG, Mu TH, Deng L. Anticancer effects of sweet potato protein on human colorectal cancer cells. World J Gastroenterol 2013; 19(21): 3300-3308
[PMID: 23745032 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i21.3300]