Anti-nutritional characteristics and mechanism of soybean agglutinin

Soybean agglutinin (SBA) is an important anti-nutritional factor in soybean. SBA can induce animal growth inhibition, cause pathological changes of intestinal tissue, and decrease in the immune system functioning. Recently, a great deal of research has been done on the effects of SBA on cell morphology, division, apoptosis, autophagy, as well as the correlated signal transduction pathway. This review mainly covers the chemical and biological characteristics of SBA, describes the multifaceted aspects of SBA anti-nutritional functions, and highlights the possible cellular and molecular mechanism of anti-nutritional effects of SBA. This review has important implications for the prevention and treatment of SBA-induced diseases, drug development, processing techniques of plant products, prevention of food-borne toxins, as well as human and animal health protection.