Potencial biotecnológico do inibidor de tripsina de flores de Moringa oleifera: uma revisão

Abstract

This work provides a review on the applications of the Moringa oleifera flower trypsin inhibitor (MoFTI) as an insecticidal, antiparasitic, antitumor, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory agent. MoFTI is a 18.2-kDa protein (Ki against trypsin of 2.4 μM) that killed (LC50 of 0.3 mg/mL) or delayed the development of newly hatched Aedes aegypti larvae and impaired the growth and viability of the larval gut microbiota (MIC of 0.031 mg/mL; MBC of 1.0 mg/mL). It was also reported that MoFTI caused lysis of Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes (LC50 of 41.2 μg/mL). The inhibitor stimulated the release of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and INF-γ, the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, and NO by T. cruzi-infected human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with the advantage of exerts low toxicity to murine peritoneal macrophages and Vero cells, and no toxicity to human PBMCs. It is known that MoFTI antitumor activity involves the reduction of sarcoma 180 tumor weight in mice and the impairment of the vascularization in tumor microenvironment without exerting toxicity to the animals. Also the inhibitor is an anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agent because it reduced paddle edema and leukocyte migration to the peritoneal cavity in mice, and modulated levels of NO, pro-inflammatory (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17A) and anti-inflammatory (IL-4 and IL-10) cytokines, respectively. The reviewed data implicate MoFTI as an interesting molecule for biotechnological applications, whether due to its insecticidal potential or pharmacological value.