Bromelain from Ananas comosus

Figure 1 Alignment of the amino acid sequences of stem bromelain and papain. Amino acids identical for both sequences are boxed. Brom Anaco Bromelain from Ananas comosus Papa Carpa papain from Carica papaya. (Sequences were extracted from the SwissProt protein sequence data base.)...

Bromelain The purified proteolytic substance derived from the pineapples Ananas comosus and Ananas bracteatus L. (Fam. Bromeliaceae). Produced as a white to light tan, amorphous powder soluble in water (the solution is usually colorless to light yellow and somewhat opalescent), but practically insoluble in alcohol, in chloroform, and in ether. Major active principle bromelain. Typical applications used in the chillproofing of beer, in the tenderizing of meat, in the preparation of precooked cereals, in the production of protein hydrolysates, and in baking. 

Proteolytic activity in the juice of the pineapple plant Ananas comosus) was first reported in 1879 (7). More recently, the juice from the stem of the pineapple plant was shown to be a rich source of stem bromelain. This name is used to distinguish the enzyme from another which is derived from the fruit (8, 9). Mature pineapple stems are collected by special harvesting machines. The juice is pressed by special mills and then filtered. Most commercial preparations of bromelain have been precipitated from the stem juice by acetone. 

Bromelain is a mixture of cysteine proteases obtained from pineapple stems (Ananas comosus, Bromeliaceae) that has been used therapeutically for the treatment of inflammation and trauma [119]. 7n vitro, it has varied stimulatory effects on leukocyte populations, increases CD2-mediated T cell activation, enhances Ag-independent binding to monocytes, etc. The effects of bromelain have previously been attributed to its degradative action at cell surfaces. However, it also acts independent of the removal of cell surface molecules [120]. In order to investigate the possible hormonelike effects of bromelain on intracellular signalling, its effects on TCR7CD3 signalling and IL-2 production were studied. It was observed that bromelain inhibits ERK-2 activation in ThO cells stimulated via the TCR, or with combined TPA plus calcium ionophore. In addtion, bromelain decreased IL-2, IFN-y, and IL-4 mRNA accumulation in ThO cells stimulated with TPA plus calcium ionophore, while the cytokine mRNA accumulation in cells stimulated via TCR was not affected. It seems that bromelain does not act on ERK-2 directly but also inhibits p2r activation, an effector molecule upstream from ERK-2 in the Raf-1/MEKl/ERK kinase cascade. Since p21 is an effector for multiple MAPK pathways, it is likely that bromelain affects other MAPK signalling cascades, such as the INK pathway or p38 MAPK pathway [121],... 

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