Pea lectin inhibits cell growth by inducing apoptosis in SW480 and SW48 cell lines

Globally, colorectal cancer is the third most common type of malignant tumor, after lung and breast. Here anticancer property of pea lectin was evaluated against colorectal cancer cell lines SW480 and SW48. The cells were treated with different doses of lectin for 3 days in vitro and the inhibitory effects were found in a dose dependent manner. At the high dose(1.0 mg/ml) 62% and 63% cell growth inhibitions were observed for SW48 and SW480 cell lines, respectively. Cell growth inhibition was further studied by colony formation of the cell lines and the numbers of colonies in SW480^{+pea lectin} and SW48^{+pea lectin} cells were noted significantly lower in comparison to that of control cells. Cell morphological study revealed that pea lectin induced apoptosis both in SW48 and SW480 cell lines, which was further confirmed by caspase inhibitors. Involvement of intrinsic mitochondrial pathway in the apoptosis progression was confirmed by caspase inhibitors and increased of caspase-3 & -9 proteins expressions. Expression levels of p53 and p21 protein were also increased significantly in both cell lines with the decreased of PARP1 protein expression. G₂/M and G₀/G₁ cell cycle arrested was noted in SW48 and SW480 cell lines, respectively, after treatment with pea lectin.