RESUMO
Osmotin, a plant defense protein, has functional similarity to adiponectin, an insulin sensitizingsensitising hormone secreted by adipocytes. We speculated that Piper colubrinum Osmotin (PcOSM) could have functional roles in obesity-related cancers, especially breast cancer. Immunofluorescence assays, flow cytometry, cell cycle analysis and a senescence assay were employed to delineate the activity in MDAMB231 breast cancer cell line. PcOSM pre-treated P. nigrum leaves showed significant reduction in disease symptoms correlated with high ROS production. In silico analysis predicted that PcOSM has higher binding efficiency with adiponectin receptor compared to adiponectin. PcOSM was effectively taken up by MDAMB231 cancer cells which resulted in marked increase in intracellular ROS levels leading to senescence and cell cycle arrest in G2/M stage. This study provides evidence on the ROS mediated direct inhibitory activity of the plant derived osmotin protein on the phytopathogen Phytophthora capsici, and the additional functional roles of this plant defense protein on cancer cells through inducing ROS associated senescence. The strong leads produced from this study could be pursued further to obtain more insights into the therapeutic potential of osmotin in human cancers.