Abstract: Dried soybean powder was defatted with either petroleum ether, n-hexane or ethyl ether before the extraction of anticancer peptides with PBS buffer (pH 7.4) under ultrasonic assistance. In order to maximize the inhibitory rate of anticancer peptides against human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901, a three-factor, three-level orthogonal array design was used to optimize three operating conditions including material particle size, solid-to-liquid ratio and ultrasonic treatment time. Anticancer activity evaluation of anticancer peptides extracted from defatted soybean was carried out using MTT assay. The optimal extraction conditions were determined as follows: material particle size 80 mesh, solid-to-liquid ratio 1:5 (g/mL) and ultrasonic treatment time 80 min. The inhibitory rate of the extract under these conditions against the proliferation of human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 was 39.03%.

Key words: soybean, anticancer peptide, extraction, biological activity