Díaz-García Alexis, Ruiz-Fuentes Jenny Laura, Rodríguez-Sánchez Hermis, Fraga Castro José A
Research Department, Laboratories of Biopharmaceuticals and Chemistries Productions (LABIOFAM), Havana, Cuba.
Microbiology Department, Tropical Medicine Institute "Pedro Kouri", Havana, Cuba.
J Venom Res. 2017 Apr 16;8:9-13. eCollection 2017.
scorpion venom has demonstrated high cytotoxic activity in epithelial cancer cells. In the present study, the effect of scorpion venom on cell viability and apoptosis was evaluated in the MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cell line. Cell viability was analyzed using MTT assay. The cell death event was examined trough end-point RT-PCR to identify the expression of apoptosis-related genes, fluorescent microscopy and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) alteration. The results demonstrated that scorpion venom induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells in a time-dependent manner. Besides, scorpion venom treatment also resulted in p53, bax, noxa, puma, caspase 3 and p21 over-expression, while the expression of bcl-2 and bcl-xl was down-regulated. Apoptosis was associated with depolarization of ΔΨm. The overall effect indicates that the selective cytotoxic effect of the scorpion venom is associated with its apoptosis-inducing effect through the mitochondrial pathway. Therefore, scorpion venom may be an interesting natural extract for further investigation in breast cancer treatment strategies.
蝎毒已在上皮癌细胞中表现出高细胞毒性活性。在本研究中,评估了蝎毒对MDA-MB-231人乳腺癌细胞系细胞活力和凋亡的影响。使用MTT法分析细胞活力。通过终点RT-PCR检测细胞死亡事件,以鉴定凋亡相关基因的表达、荧光显微镜检查和线粒体膜电位(ΔΨm)改变。结果表明,蝎毒以时间依赖性方式诱导MDA-MB-231细胞凋亡。此外,蝎毒处理还导致p53、bax、noxa、puma、caspase 3和p21的过表达,而bcl-2和bcl-xl的表达下调。凋亡与ΔΨm的去极化有关。总体结果表明,蝎毒的选择性细胞毒性作用与其通过线粒体途径诱导凋亡的作用有关。因此,蝎毒可能是一种有趣的天然提取物,可用于乳腺癌治疗策略的进一步研究。