Isolation and characterization of a French bean hemagglutinin with antitumor, antifungal, and anti-HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activities and an exceptionally high yield

A dimeric 64-kDa hemagglutinin was isolated with a high yield from dried Phaseolus vulgaris cultivar French bean number 35 seeds using a chromatographic protocol that involved Blue-Sepharose, Q-Sepharose, and Superdex 75 The yield was exceptionally high (11 g hemagglutinin per 100 g seed), which is around 10-85 times higher than other Phaseolus cultivars Its N-terminal sequence resembled those of other Phaseolus hemagglutinins. The hemagglutinating activity of the hemagglutinin was stable in the pH range 6-8, and in the temperature range 0 degrees C-50 degrees C It inhibited HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with an IC50 of 2 mu M It suppressed mycelial growth in Valsa mali with an IC50 of 10 mu M It inhibited proliferation of hepatoma HepG2 cells and breast cancer MCF-7 cells with an IC50 of 100 and 2 mu M, respectively It had no antiproliferative effect on normal embryonic liver WRL68 cells (C) 2009 Elsevier GmbH All rights reserved