Skim milk powder fortification with anticancer lipopeptides for enhanced therapeutic properties

Abstract

As milk powder (MP) is a nutritional food for cancer patients, in the present study it was used as a fortification matrix. Milk powder was fortified with anticancer lipopeptides (LPs). Initial tests revealed that the activity of LPs decreased as the fat content of milk increased, leading to selection of skim milk for fortification. After fortification, Spray-dried milk yield decreased, while particle size increased. The fortified MPs showed higher bulk/ tapped density, enhanced flowability, but decreased solubility. Both dispersibility and wettability times were reduced. However, analysis via principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the physicochemical profile of SMP fortified with LP up to 1 was not distinct from the control. In addition, enhanced antioxidant activity and a 97.8 increase in cytotoxicity against colorectal cancer cells at the 1 LP concentration were demonstrated. Since these antioxidant and cytotoxic activities were observed in samples which were refrigerated for 3 months, this indicates that milk powder could be a suitable matrix for LP. This work presents the first report of: (1) investigating the effect of milk fat on LP activity, and (2) food fortification with anticancer lipopeptides specifically aimed at enhancing anticancer activity.