Taiwan cobra cardiotoxin III inhibits Src kinase leading to apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of oral squamous cell carcinoma Ca9-22 cells.

Cardiotoxin III (CTX III), a basic polypeptide with 60-amino acid residues isolated from Naja naja atra venom, has been reported to have cytotoxic activity. CTX III exerted cytotoxicity with the S-phase cell cycle arrest, correlated with a marked decrease in the expression levels of cyclin A, cyclin B, and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), and apoptosis, accompanied with Bax and Bad up-regulation, and the down-regulation of Bcl-2, p-Bad, and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) with cytochrome c release and sequential activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 in Ca9-22 cells. Mechanistic studies showed that CTX III suppressed the phosphorylation of Src, EGFR, STAT3, STAT5, Akt, and activation of PI3 K (p110). Moreover, Src inactivation was observed earlier than that of the EGFR and the Src inhibitor PP2 suppressed the levels of phospho-EGFR, phospho-STAT3, phospho-STAT5, phospho-Akt, and PI3 K(p110). The PP2 also caused the S-phase arrest and apoptosis, and led to down-regulation of Bcl-2, p-Bad, XIAP, cyclin A, cyclin B, and CDK1, and up-regulation of Bax and Bad, similar to that observed in CTX III treatment. Taken together, these results indicate that CTX III induces apoptosis and S-phase arrest in Ca9-22 cells via concomitant inactivation of the Src, EGFR, STAT3, STAT5, PI3 K(p110), and Akt signaling pathways.