Antibodies as Tools for Characterization, Isolation and Production Enhancement of Anti-Cancer Drugs and Steroidal Hormones from Ginsenoside and Solasodine Glycoside: A Review

There are a vast number of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against biological components; however, the number for natural products is less than 50. MAbs against ginsenosides, i.e., dammarane triterpene glycosides contained in ginseng, were prepared to develop an Eastern blotting method that can estimate the number of bound sugars and pharmacological activity. Meanwhile, as a method for producing ginsenoside Rg3, which is used as an anti-cancer drug, an affinity column for ginsenoside Rb1 was prepared to isolate the raw material ginsenoside Rb1 in a single step, and a method for obtaining ginsenoside Rg3 through fermentation was proposed. A unique MAb capable of detecting all solasodine glycosides contained in Solanum plants was created to prepare an affinity column capable of isolating solasodine glycosides from S. khasianum fruit in a single step. The single-chain variable fragment gene was induced from the MAb against solasodine glycoside and introduced into the hairy root system of S. khasianum, thereby increasing the solasodine glycoside content more than twofold. As a result, we recognized that this method can be used to breed plants with higher concentrations of plant secondary metabolites like solasodine glycosides. The above results collectively demonstrate that solasodine glycoside can be isolated from S. khasianum in high yields and that this compound enables the production of steroids in high yields through a one-step chemical reaction.