Antibacterial and Anticancer Property of Bromelain: A Plant Protease Enzyme from Pineapples (Ananas comosus)

Bromelain is an extract isolated from pineapple (Ananas comosus) mainly containing proteinase. It is a crude, aqueous extract from the stems and fruits of pineapples (Ananas comosus) derived from Bromeliaceae family. It has showed significant antibacterial activity against gram negative and gram positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Corynebacterium spp, Streptococcus sanguis (10556 ATCC), Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Proteus spp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibacterial mechanism of bromelain is not well known but it may inhibit the growth of bacteria through hydrolysis of some peptide bonds present in the bacterial cell wall. Bromelain also showed significant anticancer activity against breast cancer cells, melanoma cells, human epidermoid carcinoma cells, malignant peritoneal mesothelioma cells and mammary carcinoma cells. The major anticancer mechanism of bromelain is by inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and inducing differentiation of leukemic cells.