Soybean agglutinins (SBA) also known assoy bean lectins (SBL) arelectins found insoybeans. It is a family of similarlegume lectins. As a lectin, it is anantinutrient thatchelates minerals. In human foodstuffs, less than half of this lectin is deactivated even with extensive cooking (boiling for 20 minutes).[1]
SBAs have a molecular weight of 120 kDa and anisoelectric point near pH 6.0[2] SBA preferentially binds tooligosaccharide structures with terminalα-helix orβ-sheet linkedN-acetylgalactosamine, and to a lesser extent,galactose residues. Binding can be blocked by substitutions on penultimate sugars, such asfucose attached to the penultimate galactose inblood group B. Soybean lectin has ametal binding site, which is conserved among beans.[3]
SBA binds to intestinal epithelial cells, causing inflammation andintestinal permeability, and is a major factor in acute inflammation from raw soybean meal fed to animals however the same study concludes "The data indicate that soybean lectin is able to induce alocal inflammatory reaction but has an anti-inflammatory effect whenpresent in circulating blood".[4]
Studies on rats fed SBA had complex changes: With increasing doses of soybean agglutinin, the activities ofaspartate aminotransferase linearly increased in plasma and decreased plasmainsulin content without decrease in blood glucose levels. Consumption of soybean agglutinin resulted in a depletion of lipid and an overgrowth of small intestine and pancreas in rats. Meanwhile, poor growth of spleen and kidneys and pancreatic hypertrophy was observed in the soybean agglutinin-fed rats.[5][6]
An important application for SBA is the separation ofpluripotent stem cells from humanbone marrow. Cells fractionated by SBA do not produce graft vs host disease and can be used inbone marrow transplantation acrosshistocompatibility barriers.[2]
SBA binding has been investigated as a useful tool for detection ofstomach cancer.[7]
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