Antiproliferative and immunoactivatory ability of an enzymatic extract from rice bran

The validation of natural products as source of functional foods or nutraceuticals has become an important issue in current health research. Thus, the present work has tested on MOLT-4 cells (human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemic) the antiproliferative effect of a water-soluble enzymatic extract from rice bran (EERB). Present work shows that EERB induces cellular death in MOLT-4 cells in a dose-dependent way (0–10 mg/mL) but not in non-tumoral lymphocytes. Flow cytometric analysis of MOLT-4 cells treated with EERB showed the presence of death cells by apoptosis rather than necrosis. Additionally, EERB also exerts an immunoactivatory effect on N13 microglia cells, by inducing TNF-alpha (tumour necrosis factor-α) expression, which plays a key role in the innate immune response to infection. Accordingly, we can propose EERB as a useful natural standardized extract with antiproliferative and immunoactivatory ability that would be beneficial to apply in the functional food field.