Identification of potential carcinogenic proteins in processed foods

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer globally, and is known to be related to the increased consumption of red and processed meats. During food processing, conditions used often promote post-translational modifications (PTMs) to food proteins, which could affect the bioactivity of peptides, or introduce carcinogenic or toxic properties. In this study, proteins from raw beef and beef jerky were extracted and analysed by bottom-up mass spectrometry to examine the PTMs introduced during the manufacturing process. Functional assays were employed to investigate the cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory properties of digested peptide extracts. The results demonstrate that food processing significantly increases the levels of glycation and glycoxidation modifications, and at the same time, introduces a variety of other PTMs with known toxic or mutagenic activities, some of which are being described in processed meat for the first time. This may change the bioactivities of meat-derived peptides, demonstrated by the increased cytotoxicity of the jerky peptides. Altogether, this study shows that commercial processing can introduce toxic and potentially carcinogenic properties to food. This requires further characterisation to better understand the effects of consuming processed foods on human health in the long run.