Previous studies have shown that soybean fermentation products can act as cancer 
chemoprevention or therapeutic agents. In this study, the anticancer activities 
of a fermentation product of soybean, black bean, and green bean mixture (BN999) 
were investigated. We found that BN999 inhibited the growth of human breast 
cancer AU565 cells and prostate adenocarcinoma PC-3 cells but not that of normal 
human cells. BN999 induced apoptosis in various human cancer cells but not in 
normal human cells. BN999 treatment of AU565 cancer cells resulted in activation 
of calpain and caspase-8, -9, and -3, suggesting that BN999 induces apoptosis 
via receptor-, mitochondria-, and endoplasmic reticulum-mediated pathways. 
Finally, we showed that BN999 inhibited the growth of mouse CT-26 colon cancer 
xenografts in syngenic BALB/c mice without causing obvious side effects. 
Together, these data suggest that BN999 has potential to be used as a cancer 
chemoprevention or therapeutic agent.