Evaluating the antimicrobial and apoptogenic properties of bacteriocin (nisin) produced by Lactococcus lactis

Abstract

In this study, we extracted nisin from Lactococcus lactis, purified it, and examined it for biological properties such as antibacterial and anticancer activities. The purified nisin was characterised using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. When purified nisin was tested for anti-bacterial and antifungal activity against various bacterial and fungal cultures, it was found to have superior antibacterial and antifungal abilities compared to earlier literature. Superior antibacterial activity was confirmed via intracellular ROS generation. Further, MTT studies on a variety of cancer and normal cell lines, including HepG2, HeLa, A549, HDFa, and THLE-2, show that purified nisin has high anticancer activity while causing negligible damage to normal cell lines. The findings pave the path for new anti-cancer drugs based on the nisin-based therapy approach in the future.