Bound polyphenol from foxtail millet bran induces apoptosis in HCT-116 cell through ROS generation

Anticancer Activity of Encapsulated Pearl Millet Polyphenol-Rich Extract against Proliferating and Non-Proliferating Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro

Plant-derived polyphenols are bioactive compounds with potential health-promoting properties including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity. However, their beneficial effects and biomedical applications may be limited due to their low bioavailability. In the present study, we have considered a microencapsulation-based drug delivery system to investigate the anticancer effects of polyphenol-rich (apigenin, caffeic acid, and luteolin) fractions, extracted from a cereal crop pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), using three phenotypically different cellular models of breast cancer in vitro, namely triple negative HCC1806, ER-positive HCC1428, and HER2-positive AU565 cells. Encapsulated polyphenolic extract induced apoptotic cell death in breast cancer cells with different receptor status, whereas it was ineffective against non-tumorigenic MCF10F cells. Encapsulated polyphenolic extract was also found to be cytotoxic against drug-resistant doxorubicin-induced senescent breast cancer cells that were accompanied by increased levels of apoptotic and necrotic markers, cell cycle inhibitor p21 and proinflammatory cytokine IL8. Furthermore, diverse responses to the stimulation with encapsulated polyphenolic extract in senescent breast cancer cells were observed, as in the encapsulated polyphenolic extract-treated non-proliferating AU565 cells, the autophagic pathway, here cytotoxic autophagy, was also induced, as judged by elevated levels of beclin-1 and LC3b. We show for the first time the anti-breast cancer activity of encapsulated polyphenolic extract of pearl millet and postulate that microencapsulation may be a useful approach for potentiating the anticancer effects of phytochemicals with limited bioavailability.

The bound polyphenols of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) inner shell inhibit breast cancer by promoting lipid accumulation-induced autophagic death

Foxtail millet is a traditional excellent crop with high nutritional value in the world, belong to cereals. The bran of foxtail millet is rich in polyphenol that has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumorigenic effects. Previously, we extracted bound polyphenols from the inner shell of foxtail millet bran (BPIS). Here, we report that BPIS specifically induced breast cancer cell death and elevated the autophagy level simultaneously. The addition of an autophagy inhibitor blocked BPIS-induced breast cancer cell death, indicating that excessive autophagy induced cell death. Furthermore, oil red O and BODIPY staining also confirmed that lipids, which are important inducers of autophagy, accumulated in breast cancer cells treated with BPIS. Lipidomics research revealed that glycerophospholipids were the main accumulated lipids induced by BPIS. Further study showed that elevated PCYT1A expression was responsible for glycerophospholipid accumulation, and BPIS contained ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid, which induced PCYT1A expression and breast cancer cell death. Collectively, our results revealed that BPIS resulted in autophagic death by enhancing lipid accumulation in breast cancer cells, and BPIS contains ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid, which provided new insights into developing nutraceuticals and drugs for breast cancer patients.

Importance of Insoluble-Bound Phenolics to the Antioxidant Potential Is Dictated by Source Material

Insoluble-bound phenolics (IBPs) are extensively found in the cell wall and distributed in various tissues/organs of plants, mainly cereals, legumes, and pulses. In particular, IBPs are mainly distributed in the protective tissues, such as seed coat, pericarp, and hull, and are also available in nutritional tissues, including germ, epicotyl, hypocotyl radicle, and endosperm, among others. IBPs account for 20-60% of the total phenolics in food matrices and can exceed 70% in leaves, flowers, peels, pulps, seeds, and other counterparts of fruits and vegetables, and up to 99% in cereal brans. These phenolics are mostly covalently bound to various macromolecules such as hemicellulose, cellulose, structural protein, arabinoxylan, and pectin, which can be extracted by acid, alkali, or enzymatic hydrolysis along with various thermal and non-thermal treatments. IBPs obtained from various sources exhibited a wide range of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, anticancer, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetic properties. In this contribution, the chemistry, distribution, biological activities, metabolism, and extraction methods of IBPs, and how they are affected by various treatments, are summarized. In particular, the effect of thermal and non-thermal processing on the release of IBPs and their antioxidant potential is discussed.

Antidiarrheal Effect of Fermented Millet Bran on Diarrhea Induced by Senna Leaf in Mice

Bacillus natto is a kind of probiotic with various functional characteristics, which can produce a lot of nutrients during growth and reproduction. Bacillus natto was used as strain, the number of viable bacteria and the content of soluble dietary fiber in millet bran were used as indexes to study the effects of inoculum size, fermentation time, and fermentation temperature on the fermentation effect, and the optimal fermentation conditions were determined by a response surface experiment. The antidiarrhea effect of fermented millet bran prepared under the best technological conditions was evaluated. The results showed that the optimum fermentation conditions were as follows: inoculum size was 7.48%, fermentation time was 47.04 h, and fermentation temperature was 36.06 °C. Under the optimal fermentation conditions, the viable bacteria count of millet bran was 8.03 log CFU/mL and the soluble dietary fiber content was 12.14%. The fermented millet bran can significantly reduce the intestinal thrust rate and serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α, and significantly increase the secretion of SIgA in the intestinal mucosa, which can relieve diarrhea induced by senna leaf in mice. The results of this study can provide the scientific basis for deep processing of millet bran and efficient utilization of fermented millet bran, and also provide the theoretical basis for clinical treatment of diarrhea.

Hydrolyzed Bound Phenolics from Rice Bran Alleviate Hyperlipidemia and Improve Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in High-Fat-Diet Fed Mice

It has been confirmed the lipid-lowering effect of rice bran free phenolics, but it is unknown whether rice bran bound phenolics, the phenolic profile of which differs from the free ones, have a similar effect. Thus, the hypolipidemic effect and potential mechanism of hydrolyzed bound phenolics (HBP) from rice bran was investigated in this study. The results showed that HBP supplementation significantly improved serum lipid profiles of high-fat-diet fed mice. HBP inhibited the activation of nuclear receptors liver X receptor-α (LXRα), sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), and peroxisome proliferators-activated receptors-γ (PPARγ), and, therefore, changed the expressions of their downstream genes, including LDLR, CD36, ACC1, FAS, and DGAT2 in the liver. Moreover, HBP supplementation reversed the high-fat-diet induced gut microbiota dysbiosis. These findings suggest that HBP might alleviate the hyperlipidemia via inhibiting the hepatic de novolipogenesis, regulating the uptake of cholesterol and fatty acid in the liver and their absorption in the gut. The attenuation of microbiota dysbiosis might contribute to the above effects.

Activities of the soluble and non-digestible longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) polysaccharides against HCT-116 cells as affected by a chemical selenylation

The soluble and non-digestible longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) polysaccharides (LP) with Se content less than 0.01 g/kg were extracted and selenylated chemically with the HNO₃–Na₂SeO₃ system, to prepare two selenylated products namely SeLP1 and SeLP2 with enhanced Se contents of 1.46 and 4.79 g/kg, respectively. LP, SeLP1, and SeLP2 were then measured and compared for their saccharide features and bioactivity in human colon carcinoma HCT-116 cells. Compared with LP, both SeLP1 and SeLP2 contained more neutral saccharides, but showed reduced uronic acid content and undetectable sulfate. Moreover, SeLP1 and especially SeLP2 in the cells showed higher activities than LP, reflected by their enhanced capacity to inhibit cell growth, alter cell morphology, and suppress cell colony formation. Compared with LP, SeLP1 and especially SeLP2 were also more capable of promoting intracellular reactive oxygen species and Ca²⁺ levels, causing mitochondrial membrane potential loss, or inducing cell apoptosis via up- and down-regulating the eight apoptosis-related genes and proteins. Overall, the performed chemical selenylation of LP resulted in obvious changes in these saccharide features and simultaneously enhanced the anti-cancer activity of the selenylated products against the cells clearly, while a higher selenylation extent of the selenylated products consistently caused higher activity towards the cells. The results of this study thus highlighted that this chemical selenylation is applicable when aiming to enhance the bioactivities of natural polysaccharides.

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Chemical selenylation of longan polysaccharides causes Se conjugation covalently.

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The selenylated polysaccharides have changes in saccharide features and sulfate.

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The selenylated polysaccharides have higher activities to HCT-116 cells.

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Higher polysaccharide selenylation consistently leads to activity increase in cells.

Vanillin extracted from proso and barnyard millets induces cell cycle inhibition and apoptotic cell death in MCF-7 cell line

Context

Consuming whole grain food has been motivated due to numerous health benefits arising from their bioactive components.

Aims

This study aims to study whether the active compound extracted from Proso and Barnyard millets inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptotic cell death in MCF-7 cell line.

Materials and Methods

Cell proliferative effect was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay using MCF-7 cell line. Cytotoxicity was determined by release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme from cells. Apoptotic morphological changes in MCF-7 cells were observe under fluorescence microscope using double staining of Hoeschst 33342/propidium iodide (PI). Induction of apoptosis was analyzed using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/PI through flow cytometry.

Results

In this study, cell proliferative effect of the bioactive compounds from proso millet (Compound 1) and barnyard millet (Compound 2) was evaluated using MCF-7 cell line. Both the compounds significantly inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells after treated with 250 μg/ml and 1000 μg/ml concentration for 48 h. Cytotoxic activity of compounds was assessed by the release of LDH showed that these extracted compounds were not toxic to the cells. Apoptosis was confirmed by Hoechst 33,342/PI dual-staining, Annexin V-FTIC/PI staining, and flow cytometry results of cell cycle analysis shows that there was a significant cell arrest in the G0/G1 phase and increased the apoptotic cells in sub-G0 phase in a dose-dependent manner.

Conclusions

This study suggests that the extracted vanillin compound from these millets have effectively induced apoptotic cell death in breast cancer cell line.

Phenolic Compounds and Triterpenes in Different Olive Tissues and Olive Oil By-Products, and Cytotoxicity on Human Colorectal Cancer Cells: The Case of Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino Cultivars (Olea europaea L.)

Phenolic and triterpenoid compounds of the olive tree are recognized as having a key role in health promotion, thanks to their multiple protective actions in humans. To expand the source of these bioactive compounds, the phenolic and triterpenoid profiles of leaf, branch, destoned fruit, destoned pomace, shell, seed, and extra virgin olive oil from the Frantoio, Leccino, and Moraiolo olive cultivars were simultaneously characterized by HPLC-DAD-MS. Overall, 43 molecules were quantitated and expressed on the obtained dry extracts. Oleuropein was mainly concentrated in branches (82.72 g/kg), fruits (55.79 g/kg), leaves (36.71 g/kg), and shells (1.26 g/kg), verbascoside (4.88 g/kg) in pomace, and nüzhenide 11-methyl oleoside (90.91 g/kg) in seeds. Among triterpenoids, which were absent in shells, the highest amount of oleanolic acid was found in olive leaves (11.88 g/kg). HCT-116 colorectal cells were chosen to assess the cytotoxicity of the dry extract, using the phytocomplex from Frantoio, which was the richest in phenols and triterpenoids. The IC₅₀ was also determined for 13 pure molecules (phenols and terpenoids) detected in the extracts. The greatest inhibition on the cell’s proliferation was induced by the branch dry extract (IC₅₀ 88.25 μg/mL) and by ursolic acid (IC₅₀ 24 μM). A dose-dependent relationship was observed for the tested extracts.

Lappaconitine hydrochloride inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in human colon cancer HCT-116 cells via mitochondrial and MAPK pathway

Lappaconitine hydrochloride (LH), as a new synthetic alkaloid, exhibits antitumor activity, whereas its antitumor effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been investigated. In this study, the effect of LH on HCT-116 cell proliferation and apoptosis in vivo and in vitro and underlying molecular mechanism were explored. The Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to assess cell viability. Morphological change was observed by Hoechst 33342 staining. Cell cycle and apoptosis were performed using a flow cytometer. The western blot method was used to screen for related protein expression. The mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was confirmed using the 5, 5, 6, 6'-tetrachloro-1, 1', 3, 3'-tetraethylbenzimi-dazolyl carbo cyanine iodide (JC-1) staining assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was evaluated by a 20-70-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) staining assay. The antitumor effect was evaluated in vivo by the xenograft HCT-116 model. The results showed that LH significantly inhibited cell viability in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. LH induced apoptosis and S phase cell cycle arrest. LH promoted the reduction of MMP and ROS accumulation. Moreover, LH activated the mitochondrial and MAPK pathway. The experiments in vivo showed that LH had significant antitumor effect in tumor-bearing mice, and had virtually no effect on the weight and internal organs of the mice. In conclusion, LH could induce apoptosis in HCT-116 cells through mitochondrial and MAPK signaling pathways. LH may be a promising treatment for CRC.

Elucidation of morphological characteristics, crystallinity, and molecular structures of native and enzyme modified cereal brans

Bran is a nutritious outermost layer of the cereal grain that is removed during milling to curtail the technical problems in end-products. Modification techniques such as enzyme treatments might be an effective way to alter bran morphology and end-use quality. In this study, bran from six cereals (wheat, barley, oat, maize, millet, and sorghum) were enzymatically modified (cellulase and xylanase), and evaluated for morphological properties through scanning electron microscopy, crystallinity through x-ray diffraction and molecular structures through FTIR spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that enzyme modifications caused breakage in bran fibers by hydrolyzing non-starch polysaccharides. X-ray diffraction exhibited that crystallinity of the structures was increased after modifications as enzymes hydrolyzed amorphous regions of cellulose and hemicellulose in bran matrix. Molecular structures studied by FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated absorption in wavelength ranges of 900-3400cm^-1 associated to carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, proteins, and non-starch polysaccharides. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Cereal bran creates technical problems for food processors and bakers in terms of grittiness leading to the unacceptability of the product. The bran can be modified using different approaches, such as enzyme modifications. This research will be helpful for the food scientists & researchers and bakers for making choices for preferred method of bran modification. This will also be helpful for cereal scientists for the understanding of structural properties of bran layers.

Whole grain cereals: the potential roles of functional components in human health

Whole grain cereals have been the basis of human diet since ancient times. Due to rich in a variety of unique bioactive ingredients, they play an important role in human health. This review highlights the contents and distribution of primary functional components and their health effects in commonly consumed whole grain cereals, especially dietary fiber, protein, polyphenols, and alkaloids. In general, cereals exert positive effects in the following ways: 1) Restoring intestinal flora diversity and increasing intestinal short-chain fatty acids. 2) Regulating plasma glucose and lipid metabolism, thereby the improvement of obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and other chronic metabolic diseases. 3) Exhibiting antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals. 4) Preventing gastrointestinal cancer via the regulation of classical signaling pathways. In summary, this review provides a scientific basis for the formulation of whole-grain cereals-related dietary guidelines, and guides people to form scientific dietary habits, so as to promote the development and utilization of whole-grain cereals.

Polyphenol from millet bran increases the sensitivity of colorectal cancer cells to oxaliplatin by blocking the ganglioside GM3 catabolism

The study implies that bound polyphenol from millet bran dramatically prevents ganglioside GM3 catabolism followed by the suppression of P-gp, which eventually reverse drug-resistance in colorectal cancer cells to oxaliplatin.

Phenolic acid bound arabinoxylans extracted from Little and Kodo millets modulate immune system mediators and pathways in RAW 264.7 cells

The immunomodulating effect of Phenolic acid bound arabinoxylans (PCA-AXs) extracted from Little (PCA-AX-L) and Kodo (PCA-AX-K) millet seeds in RAW 264.7 cells were investigated. The PCA-AXs were extracted from millets and their chemical characterization were carried out by GC-MS, HPLC, and FT-IR. The immunomodulatory effect of PCA-AXs in RAW 264.7 cells were investigated by estimating ROS, NO, and cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and evaluation of molecular mechanism by q-PCR & western blotting techniques. The xylose: arabinose ratio of PCA-AX-L and PCA-AX-K were 1.48:1.0 and 2.26:1.0, respectively. The phenolic acids content was higher in PCA-AX-K than PCA-AX-L determined by HPLC. FT-IR analysis confirms the presence of α-glucosidic linkage with the degree of substitution of xylan backbone by arabinose residues. The evaluation of immunomodulating effect of PCA-AXs revealed that the PCA-AX-L-treated cells showed higher release of NO, ROS and cytokines than PCA-AX-K-treated cells. The mRNA expressions of TNF-α, iNOS and COX-2 were upregulated by PCA-AX-L and downregulated by PCA-AX-K in dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, in western blotting, the ERK and NF-κB were found to be activated by PCA-AX-L and inhibited by PCA-AX-K. Our findings suggest that the high branched arabinoxylans of PCA-AX-L could modulate the immune response in RAW 264.7 cells through activation of ERK and NF-κB signaling pathways and acts as an immunostimulant. The higher phenolic content in PCA-AX-K could modulate the immune response by downregulation of ERK and NF-κB signaling pathways and thus, it could act as an immunomodulator. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Millets are the richest source of arabinoxylans in which they are known to be bound with phenolic acids (PCA-AX). Arabinoxylans derived from rice and wheat is known immunomodulators. This study was focused to evaluate the immunomodulatory property of PCA-AX derived from two different millets little and kodo. The study results clearly indicated the immune stimulatory action of PCA-AX-L and immunomodulatory action of PCA-AX-K. The explored mechanism indicated that the PCA-AXs modulate NF-κB & ERK pathways for their immunomodulatory action.

Inhibitory effect of bound polyphenol from foxtail millet bran on miR-149 methylation increases the chemosensitivity of human colorectal cancer HCT-8/Fu cells

Nature polyphenols widely present in plants and foods are promising candidates in cancer chemotherapy. Emerging evidence has shown that plant polyphenols regulate the expression of miRNAs to exert the anti-Multidrug resistance (MDR) activity, which partly attributes to their regulation on miRNAs methylation. Our previous study found that bound polyphenol from foxtail millet bran (BPIS) had potential as an anti-MDR agent for colorectal cancer (CRC), but its mechanism remains unclear. The present findings demonstrated that BPIS upregulated the expression of miR-149 by reducing the methylation of its CpG islands, which subsequently induced the cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase, resulting in enhancing the chemo-sensitivity of HCT-8/Fu cells. Mechanically, BPIS and its active components (FA and p-CA) reduced miR-149 methylation by inhibiting the expression levels of DNA methyltransferases, promoting a remarkable increase of miR-149 expression. Further, the increased miR-149 induced cell cycle arrest in G₂/M phase by inhibiting the expression of Akt, Cyclin B1 and CDK1, thus increasing the chemosensitivity of HCT-8/Fu cells. Additionally, a strong inducer of DNA de-methylation (5-aza-dc) treatment markedly increased the chemosensitivity of CRC through elevating miR-149 expression, which indicates the hypermethylation of miR-149 may be the key cause of drug resistance in CRC. The study indicates that the enhanced chemosensitivity of BPIS on CRC is mainly attributed to the increase of miR-149 expression induced by methylation inhibition.

Review of Distribution, Extraction Methods, and Health Benefits of Bound Phenolics in Food Plants

Phenolic compounds are important functional bioactive substances distributed in various food plants. They have gained wide interest from researchers due to their multiple health benefits. There are two forms of phenolic compounds: free form and bound form. The latter is also called bound phenolics (BPs), which are found mainly in the cell wall and distributed in various tissues/organs of the plant body. They can either chemically bind to macromolecules and food matrixes or be physically entrapped in food matrixes and intact cells. Various isolation methods, including chemical, biological, and physical methods, have been employed to extract BPs from plants. BPs have been shown to have strong biological activities, including antioxidant, probiotic, anticancer, anti-inflammation, antiobesity, and antidiabetic effects as well as beneficial effects on central nervous system diseases. This review summarizes research findings on these topics to help in better understanding of BPs and provide comprehensive information on their health effects.

Vanillin extracted from Proso and Barnyard millets induce apoptotic cell death in HT-29 human colon cancer cell line

In the present study, we hypothesized that the active compound extracted from Proso and Barnyard millets inhibits cell proliferation and apoptosis induction in colon cancer cell line. The bioactive compounds from these millets were purified by supercritical fluid extraction and their structure was elucidated using spectroscopic methods. Extracted bioactive components from these millets were similar in chemical structure to the phenolic aldehyde-Vanillin [4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde]. Cell proliferative effect was assessed by MTT assay using HT-29 cell line. Compound 1 significantly inhibited the proliferation of HT-29 cells when treated with concentrations of 250 µg/ml and 1,000 µg/ml for 48 h, while compound 2 moderately inhibited the proliferation of the HT-29 cell line at the same concentration and time period. Cytotoxic activity of extracted compounds by the release of lactate dehydrogenase confirms that these compounds were not toxic to the cells at 250 µg/ml of compounds 1 and 2. In addition, flow cytometry results show a significant cell arrest in the G0/G1 phase and increase in the apoptotic cells in sub G0 phase, in a dose-dependent manner when compared with the control. The conclusion of this study suggests that the anticancer property of these millets is mediated through the presence of vanillin.

Reversal Effects of Bound Polyphenol from Foxtail Millet Bran on Multidrug Resistance in Human HCT-8/Fu Colorectal Cancer Cell

Foxtail millet is the second-most widely planted species of millet and the most important cereal food in China. Our previous study showed that bound polyphenol of inner shell (BPIS) from foxtail millet bran displayed effective antitumor activities in vitro and in vivo. The present research further implied that BPIS has the ability to reverse the multidrug resistance of colorectal cancer in human HCT-8/Fu cells, the IC₅₀ values of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), oxaliplatin (L-OHP), and vincristine (VCR) were decreased form 6593 ± 53.8, 799 ± 48.9, and 247 ± 10.3 μM to 5350 ± 22.3 (3261 ± 56.9), 416 ± 16.6 (252 ± 15.6), and 144 ± 8.30 (83.8 ± 5.60) μM when HCT-8/Fu cells were pretreated with 0.5 (1.0) mg/mL BPIS for 12 h. The 12 phenolic acid compounds of BPIS were identified by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-triple-time of flight/mass spectrometry (UPLC-Triple-TOF/MS) method. Especially, the fraction of molecular weight (MW) < 200 of BPIS reversed the multidrug resistance in HCT-8/Fu cells, and ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid were the main active components, the IC₅₀ values were 1.23 ± 0.195 and 2.68 ± 0.163 mg/mL, respectively. The present data implied that BPIS significantly enhanced the sensitivity of chemotherapeutic drugs through inhibiting cell proliferation, promoting cell apoptosis, and increasing the accumulation of rhodamine-123 (Rh-123) in HCT-8/Fu cells. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot data indicated that BPIS also decreased the expression levels of multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), P-glycoprotein (P-gp), and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). Collectively, these results show that BPIS has potential ability to be used as a new drug-resistance reversal agent in colorectal cancer.

Anti-inflammatory effects of millet bran derived-bound polyphenols in LPS-induced HT-29 cell via ROS/miR-149/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway

The pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory maladjustment has been acknowledged as one of the chief causations of inflammatory diseases and even cancers. Previous studies showed that plant-derived polyphenolic compounds were the most potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agents among all natural compounds. The present study indicates that bound polyphenols of inner shell (BPIS) from foxtail millet bran can display anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-induced HT-29 cells and in nude mice. Mechanistically, BPIS restrained the level of various pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8), and enhanced the expression level of anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) by blocking the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB)-p65 nuclear translocation. Further, we found the elevated miR-149 expression by BPIS-induced ROS accumulation, directly targeted the Akt expression to block NF-κB nuclear translocation. Taken together, these novel findings provide new insights into the development of BPIS as an anti-inflammatory agent via the signaling cascade of ROS/miR-149/Akt/NF-κB axis.