Anticancer property of Hemp Bioactive Peptides in Hep3B liver cancer cells through Akt/GSK3β/β‐catenin signaling pathway

• Published in: Food science & nutrition Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 1833 - 1841
• Main Authors: Wei, Lian‐Hui, Dong, Yan, Sun, Yu‐Feng, Mei, Xue‐Song, Ma, Xue‐Song, Shi, Jie, Yang, Qing‐li, Ji, Yan‐Ru, Zhang, Zheng‐Hai, Sun, Hu‐Nan, Sun, Xing‐Rong, Song, Shu‐Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: AKT protein; Amino acids; anticancer; Anticancer properties; Apoptosis; Biological activity; Cancer; Caspase-3; Catenin; Cell culture; Cell cycle; Cell migration; Cell viability; GSK3β signaling; Hemp; hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.); Hepatocytes; Hydrolysates; Liver; Liver cancer; Membranes; Microscopy; Molecular weight; Original Research; Peptides; Phenotypes; Phosphorylation; Proteins; ROS; Seeds; Signal transduction; Signaling; Variance analysis; Wound healing; China; hydrolysates; GSK3β signaling; anticancer; ROS; hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.)
• ISSN: 2048-7177; 2048-7177
• DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.1976

Foodborne protein hydrolysates exhibit biological activity that may be therapeutic in a number of human disease settings. Hemp peptides (HP) generated by controlled hydrolysis of hemp proteins have a number of health benefits and are of pharmaceutical value. In the present study, we produce small molecular weight HP from hemp seed and investigate its anticancer properties in Hep3B human liver cancer cells. We demonstrate that HP treatment increased apoptosis, reduced cell viability, and reduced cell migration in Hep3B human liver cancer cells without affecting the normal liver cell line L02. We correlate these phenotypes with increased cellular ROS levels, upregulation of cleaved caspase 3 and Bad, and downregulation of antiapoptotic Bcl‐2. HP treatment led to increased Akt and GSK‐3β phosphorylation, with subsequent downregulation of β‐catenin, suggesting β‐catenin signaling modulation as a critical mechanism by which HP exhibits anticancer properties. Our findings suggest HP are of potential therapeutic interest for liver cancer treatment. Anti‐cancer property of new hemp protein hydrolysates on human liver cancers