Sunflower Seeds Have Potential Anti-Cancer Proteins

University of Queensland scientists have found sunflower proteins and their processing machinery could be used as cheap drug reactors.

AsianScientist (Mar. 26, 2011) – In a study published in Nature Chemical Biology, University of Queensland scientists showed that sunflower proteins and their processing machinery are hijacked to make rogue protein rings.

The protein ring, SFTI, was previously demonstrated to have potential as an anti-cancer drug.

Dr Joshua Mylne, who led the research, has a personal connection with sunflowers. His grandfather, Alan Lemon, introduced them to Australian farms, creating a multimillion-dollar industry.

Using the model plant Arabidopsis, Dr Mylne and Professor David Craik from University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience demonstrated that the sunflower protein production system could be moved into another species and thus SFTI could be manufactured in a range of plants.

This work has wider applications for drug production. SFTI can be used in its natural form to block breast cancer enzymes, and in a modified form to block enzymes associated with other types of cancer.

SFTI has not been widely used previously due to the costs involved in producing them using traditional, synthetic manufacturing methods.

“Although SFTI and related proteins show great promise as drug templates, the cost to manufacture them is a significant barrier to widespread use,” Dr Mylne said.

Their discovery that could open the door to cheaper, plant-based drug manufacturing.

Seeds are an attractive system for the production of pharmaceuticals as they are cheap to grow, their contents are stable at room temperature and also sterile inside their coat. There are also established systems in place for their production, harvest, storage and transportation.

The article can be found at: MyIne et al. (2011) Nature Chemical Biology. Albumins and their processing machinery are hijacked for cyclic peptides in sunflower.

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Source: University of Queensland.
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