Sciani Juliana Mozer, Sampaio Marlos Cortez, Zychar Bianca Cestari, Gonçalves Luis Roberto de Camargo, Giorgi Renata, Nogueira Thiago de Oliveira, de Melo Robson Lopes, Teixeira Catarina de Fátima Pereira, Pimenta Daniel Carvalho
Laboratório de Bioquímica e Biofísica, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião, SP, Brazil.
Laboratório de Farmacologia, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Peptides. 2014 Mar;53:13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2013.07.031. Epub 2013 Aug 12.
Echinometra lucunter is an abundant sea urchin found in Brazilian waters. Accidents caused by this animal are common and are characterized by the penetration of the spines in the skin, which raises an inflammatory reaction through mechanical trauma as well as by the presumable action of toxins. Additionally, there have been reports of inflammatory reaction after the consumption of raw sea urchin eggs. In this work, we have isolated a peptide from E. lucunter coelomic fluid that could elicit inflammatory reactions, such as paw edema, leukocyte recruitment and diminishment of the pain threshold. This peptide was termed Echinometrin. Moreover, the peptide administration was able to produce in vivo degranulation of mouse mast cells, in a dose-response manner. The peptide was 'de novo' sequenced by mass spectrometry and its synthetic analog could reproduce all the observed effects. Sequence alignment indicates that this peptide is comprised in vitellogenin, an abundant nutrient protein present in the gametogenic cells of sea urchins, making it possible that echinometrin would be a cryptide with pro-inflammatory effects.
刺冠海胆是一种在巴西海域大量存在的海胆。这种动物引发的事故很常见，其特征是刺刺入皮肤，通过机械创伤以及可能的毒素作用引发炎症反应。此外，有报告称食用生海胆卵后会出现炎症反应。在这项研究中，我们从刺冠海胆的体腔液中分离出一种能引发炎症反应的肽，如爪部水肿、白细胞募集和痛阈降低。这种肽被命名为刺冠海胆素。此外，肽的给药能够以剂量反应方式在体内使小鼠肥大细胞脱颗粒。通过质谱对该肽进行了“从头”测序，其合成类似物能够重现所有观察到的效应。序列比对表明，这种肽包含在卵黄生成素中，卵黄生成素是海胆配子生成细胞中一种丰富的营养蛋白，这使得刺冠海胆素可能是一种具有促炎作用的隐匿肽。
