Benito Lumen
Benito O. Lumen was born on July 28, 1940 in Taytay,
Philippines. Son of Amado S. and Soledad O. de Lumen, came to
the United States, 1965. Bachelor of Science, U. Philippines,
1962; Master of Science, U. Missouri, 1968; Doctor of
Philosophy, University of California, Davis, 1971.
Invention
The anti-cancer properties of Lunasin was first discovered by Dr
Alfredo Galvez and Dr. Benito de Lumen, both Filipino doctors,
when they were enhancing the nutritional properties of soy
protein.
Accomplishment
Professor Benito de Lumen has recently been elected as a Fellow
of the American Association for the Advancement in Science for
his important contributions to natural products biochemistry, with
special regard to the discovery of lunasin, a cancer preventative
from seeds of common crop plants.
Lunasin
Lunasin is a peptide found in soy and some cereal grains, which
has been the subject of research since 1996 focusing
on cancer, cholesterol and cardiovascular
disease and inflammation.
It is found both in grains originating in the American continents as
well as the old world continents. This polypeptide was originally
isolated, purified, and sequenced from soybean seed in 1987.
Although uncertain about the peptide’s biological activity, the
Japanese team of researchers described it as a 43-amino acid
peptide, noting specifically the unusual poly (L-aspartic acid)
sequence at the carboxyl terminus. Subsequent research by
Alfredo Galvez in the laboratory of Ben de Lumen at
the University of California–Berkeley identified the peptide as a
subunit of the cotyledon-specific 2S albumin. The name of the
protein was chosen from the Filipino word lunas, which means
"cure". Lunasin was patented as a biologic molecule in 1999 by de
Lumen and Galvez