# Phenolic Compound Composition and Biological Activities of Fractionated Soybean Pod Extract
## 3 Results and Discussion
[35] assessed the effect of gamma radiation on the content of bioactive compounds and the anticancer properties of pod extract. They observed reduced viability of colorectal cancer cells (HCT116) and breast cancer cells (MCF7) exposed to the irradiated pod extract, by 64 and 84%, respectively, in comparison with non-irradiated extract. The authors also noted an increase in the content of polyphenols in the extract exposed to gamma radiation and suggested that these compounds may be responsible for the anticancer effect of the pod extract. The results of the present study also indicate a strong correlation between the content of phenolic compounds and the cytotoxic effect of the extracts and fractions with variable lipophilicity. In an in vitro study, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] noted an inhibitory effect of ethanol extract from soybean leaves on the growth and formation of independent colonies of HCT116 colon cancer and H1299 lung cancer cells. The H1299 tumor cells were slightly more susceptible to the soybean leaf extract than the HCT116 cells (IC\({}_{50}\) = 285 and 170 \(\upmu\)g/mL, respectively). The results of this study and the authors cited above indicate different sensitivity of cancer cells to the extracts, with colon cancer cells being less sensitive to the applied factors (Table 1) [35; 36]. In the literature, some results of in vitro and in vivo tests involving animals and humans are available which indicate that isoflavenes are the main bioactive compounds in soybeans which show anti-tumor activity. The results of the studies by [PERSON] et al. [37] showed that a solution of three phytoestrogens (genistein, biochain A and quercetin) with the same concentration (8.33 \(\upmu\)mol/L) showed a stronger inhibitory effect on prostate cell growth than single phytoestrogens (25 \(\upmu\)mol/L) or a mixture of only two (12.5 \(\upmu\)mol/L). These results suggest a synergistic effect of phytoestrogens in terms of their physiological concentrations in the prevention of prostate cancer. In vitro studies by [PERSON] et al. [38] show that soybean extract containing isoflavenes at the concentration of 25 \(\upmu\)mol/L induced a significantly higher percentage of prostate cancer cells to undergo apoptosis than genistein or daidzein alone at a concentration of 25 \(\upmu\)mol/L. Moreover, these authors observed no significant changes in cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in non-cancerous (BPH-1) cells exposed to soybean extract. This suggests a specific action of soybean extract against neoplastic cells. On the other hand, genistein and daidzein induced apoptosis in BPH-1 cells, which suggests that individual isoflavenes may exhibit cytotoxicity in non-neoplastic cells. The mentioned authors emphasize that food products containing a combination of active substances may be more effective and safer as chemotherapeutic agents than individual compounds. In the presented study, the F2 fraction showed the highest cytotoxic effect against prostate cancer cells. The results of the qualitative analysis showed the presence of isoflavenes, which confirms the cited reports on the cytotoxic effect of isoflavenes on prostate cancer cells. The results of the in vitro tests indicated that the presence of the initial ethanolic extract and the water-methanol fraction (F2) in the culture medium led to inhibition of the growth of prostate cancer cells. This suggests the potential use of soybean pods, which are considered a by-product of soybean production, as a functional food with chemoprevertive properties. However, these results require further in vivo verification on animal models, followed by clinical studies.