Abstract:
Arachis hypogea L. protein fraction-2 (AHP-F2) from the Peanut shell was extracted and characterized and its potent immunomodulatory
and anti-leishmanial role was determined in this present study. AHP-F2 was found to be a glycoprotein as
the presence of carbohydrates were confirmed by the analysis of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) yielded
glucose, galactose, mannose, and xylose. AHP-F2 molecular mass was found to be ∼28 kDa as indicated in MALDI-TOF
and peptide mass fingerprinting analysis followed by Mascot search. The peptide matches revealed the similarity of the
mannose/glucose binding lectin with 71.07% in the BLAST analysis. After that, the 3D structure of the AHP-F2 model was
designed and validated by the Ramachandran plot. The immunomodulatory role of AHP-F2 was established in murine peritoneal
macrophages as induction of nitric oxide (NO), and stimulation of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-12 and IFN-γ) in
a dose-dependent manner was observed. Interestingly, it was also found that AHP-F2 has interacted with the innate immune
receptor, toll-like receptors (TLRs) as established in molecular docking as well as mRNA expression. The anti-leishmanial
potential of AHP-F2 was revealed with a prominent inhibition of amastigote growth within the murine macrophages with
prompt induction of nitrite release. Altogether, the isolated AHP-F2 from Arachis hypogea L. has strong immunomodulatory
and anti-leishmanial potential which may disclose a new path to treat leishmaniasis.
