In vitro effect of pectins treatments from unripe and ripe papayas in colon cancer cells spheroids

• Grant number: 18/06255-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Joao Paulo Fabi
• Grantee: Israel Simões Beraldo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/23970-2 - Biological changes of papaya pectins with possible benefits to human health, AP.JP

Abstract

The plant cell wall is comprised of polysaccharide fractions unavailable for human absorption, and pectins are part of this fraction. Indicatives show that their consumption may lead to an inhibition of the onset and progression of certain types of cancer, since these compounds could exert local and systemic action when absorbed by the intestinal mucosa. However, many of these basic studies use plate-adherent (bi-dimensional - 2D) treatment of cells. A next step would be to test these compounds on cells that have grown in a three-dimensional (3D) environment because it would mimic with greater fidelity what would happen in the human body. Thus, the present project aims to develop a 3D culture model (spheroids) for colorectal carcinoma cell lines (HT-29 and HCT-116) and to evaluate the effect of treatment with pectins extracted from pulps of green and mature papayas. It is expected that at the end of the project it will be possible to verify if the treatment with papain pectins has altered the growth of the spheroids through the interaction with components of the extracellular matrix that has already been previously verified by our group in a two-dimensional cell culture model. (AU)