Characterization of anticancer, DNase and antifungal activity of pumpkin 2S albumin

• Pumpkin 2S albumin characterized for anticancer, DNase and antifungal activities.
• It exhibited strong cytotoxic effect toward tested cancer cell lines.
• Pumpkin 2S albumin induced apoptosis and caused DNA fragmentation.
• It exhibited DNase activity on both circular and linear double stranded DNA.
• CD studies demonstrated helical nature and conformational stability of protein.

The plant 2S albumins exhibit a spectrum of biotechnologically exploitable functions. Among them, pumpkin 2S albumin has been shown to possess RNase and cell-free translational inhibitory activities. The present study investigated the anticancer, DNase and antifungal activities of pumpkin 2S albumin. The protein exhibited a strong anticancer activity toward breast cancer (MCF-7), ovarian teratocarcinoma (PA-1), prostate cancer (PC-3 and DU-145) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines. Acridine orange staining and DNA fragmentation studies indicated that cytotoxic effect of pumpkin 2S albumin is mediated through induction of apoptosis. Pumpkin 2S albumin showed DNase activity against both supercoiled and linear DNA and exerted antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum. Secondary structure analysis by CD showed that protein is highly stable up to 90 °C and retains its alpha helical structure. These results demonstrated that pumpkin 2S albumin is a multifunctional protein with host of potential biotechnology applications.