iBET has developed a platform tool that complemented with bioaccessibility and/or bioavailability assays and human intervention studies, allow iBET to provide support in substantiating health claims for functional food products for submission to EC and EFSA.

Anticancer

• Anti-proliferative effect with different cell lines.
• Cell cycle analysis and induction of apoptosis.
• Cancer (stem) cell characterization: ALDH1 activity, in vitro colony forming unit assay, cell migration and invasion assays.

Available human cancer cell lines: colon (Caco-2), colorectal (HT29), gastric (MKN45), kidney (Caki-2), hepatic (HepG2) and melanoma (monolayer cultures and cancer cell spheroids). Also available are innovative disease cell models in which tumor-stromal crosstalk and disease progression events are recapitulated.

Anti-diabetes

• Anti-hyperglycaemic effect (inhibition of alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase).
• Inhibition of intestinal glucose transporters (SGLT1 and GLUT2) in human intestinal cells.

Anti-inflammatory

• Oxidative stress markers as reactive oxidative species (ROS) and nitrite oxidative species (NOS).
• Cellular damage related to oxidation/inflammation process, as the mitochondrial damage (TMRE inclusion).
• Evaluation of inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-a and IkBa translocation) on Caco-2 human cells or on co-cultures of (Caco-2 + HT29MTX) or (Caco-2 + HT29MTX +Raji) where mucus is expressed.
• Inhibition of Islet Amyloid PoliPeptide (IAPP) aggregation and toxicity in pancreatic beta cells (in collaboration).

Antioxidant

• Scavenging of ROS (ORAC, HORAC, HOSC).
• Ferric reduction antioxidant power (FRAP).
• Cellular antioxidant activity (CAA).

Cardiovascular Health 

• Anti-hypertensive effect (inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme).
• Inhibition of cholesterol absorption (inhibition of pancreatic cholesterol esterase activity).
• Inhibition of human LDL oxidation.
• Cardio protective effect (evaluation of oxidative stress biomarkers on human cardiomyocytes). 

Dermocosmetic 

• Skin protection (inhibition of metalloproteinases; evaluation of cytotoxicity and protection against oxidative damage using human epidermal keratinocytes, murine fibroblasts and melanocytes).
• Skin pigmentation (inhibition of tyrosinase activity; evaluation of melanin content in melanoma cells).
• Anti-acne (inhibition of lipase activity of P. acnes).
• Cellular migration to evaluate wound healing potential (scratch assay using human epidermal keratinocytes and murine fibroblasts).

Neuroprotection 

• Excitotoxicity reduction (inhibition of glutamate toxicity in rat primary neuronal cells).
• Neuroprotective effect (evaluation of oxidative stress biomarkers in human neuronal cells, 2D-cell monolayer and 3D-cell aggregates).
• Anti-inflammatory activity (inflammatory biomarkers, namely inflammatory cytokines, nitrites, IkBa levels and phosphorylation state).
• Inhibition of protein aggregation and toxicity: alpha-synuclein (Parkinson’s Disease), ABeta42 (Alzheimer’s Disease), huntingtin (Huntington’s Disease) and FUS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) in eukaryotic cell models.

Bioaccessibility 

• Standardized in vitro digestion method (simulation of upper gastrointestinal track).
• Chemical characterization of digested samples (gastric and intestinal fractions).

Bioavailability 

• Transport and permeability studies using Caco-2 cell model.
• Transport and permeability studies using co-cultures (Caco-2, HT29MTX and Raji immune cells).

• Bioavailability in healthy volunteers.
• Nutritional intervention studies in healthy volunteers or patients.

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