TY - JOUR A2 - Masetti, Riccardo AU - Ledesma-Martínez, Edgar AU - Aguíñiga-Sánchez, Itzen AU - Weiss-Steider, Benny AU - Rivera-Martínez, Ana Rocío AU - Santiago-Osorio, Edelmiro PY - 2019 DA - 2019/09/08 TI - Casein and Peptides Derived from Casein as Antileukaemic Agents SP - 8150967 VL - 2019 AB - Milk is a heterogeneous lacteal secretion mixture of numerous components that exhibit a wide variety of chemical and functional activities. Casein, the main protein in milk, is composed of α-, β-, and κ-caseins, each of which is important for nutritional value and for promoting the release of cytokines, also are linked to the regulation of haematopoiesis and immune response and inhibit the proliferation and induce the differentiation of leukaemia cells. It has been shown that the digestive process of caseins leads to the release of bioactive peptides that are involved in the regulation of blood pressure and the inhibition or activation of the immune response by serving as agonists or antagonists of opioid receptors, thus controlling the expression of genes that exert epigenetic control. Later, they bind to opioid receptor, block nuclear factor κ-beta, increase the redox potential, and reduce oxidative stress and the pro-inflammatory agents that favour an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory environment. Therefore, the bioactive peptides of casein could be compounds with antileukaemia potential. This review provides a summary of current knowledge about caseins and casein peptides on the immune system as well as their roles in the natural defence against the development of leukaemia and as relevant epigenetic regulators that can help eradicate leukaemia. SN - 1687-8450 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8150967 DO - 10.1155/2019/8150967 JF - Journal of Oncology PB - Hindawi KW - ER -