Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Is Resilient to Heat-Induced Conformational Change

TGF-beta1 is an essential signaling protein in numerous important biological pathways. Traditionally, TGF-beta1 is considered a sensitive protein so that this protein was handled with extreme care for production and storage. TGF-beta1 also exists in foods from animal sources, such as milk, and has been proven to be absorbed through ingestion. The food sourced TGF-beta1 was also not considered active after normal food processing, such as heating. Our research calls into question these concepts and encourages the research community to reconsider the activity of heated TGF-beta1 for both biomedical and nutrition applications.