DDDR-15. SPIDER VENOM MOLECULES IMPAIR HUMAN GLIOMA CELLS MIGRATION: POTENTIAL APPLICATION IN CANCER THERAPY

Abstract

Abstract Gliomas correspond to approximately 80% of malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system. Due to its aggressiveness, there is a growing need to seek new strategies to control the disease. The components of spider venoms are stable peptides with high specificity against biological molecular targets of therapeutic relevance. It has already been demonstrated by our group that two subfractions (SFs) isolated from the Phoneutria nigriventer spider venom (PnV) (called SF1 and SF11) can delay the migration of glioblastoma (GB) well-established cell lineage in invasions assays. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the responsiveness of samples collected from Brazilian patients with a presumptive diagnosis of glioma (high and low grades), to PnV SFs, in order to contribute to the development of new drugs. After patient consent, 13 samples were collected for cultivation and attempt to reach the tenth passage, to ensure the establishment of the lineage. Four lineages were established: J01 and N07 – glioblastoma (high grade); C03 and L09 – astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma (low grade) respectively. Cells were incubated for 48 hours with SF1 and SF11, during the scratch wound-healing assay. The results demonstrated that the SFs, mainly SF11 (which proved to be a pure peptide with 1603,88 Da, sequenced as PyrKKDKKDKFY–GLM–NH2), harmed the migration of all these samples when compared to the control group. In addition, initial data with J01 lineage demonstrated that migration was also affected during the transwell invasion assay; as well as ROCK protein, involved in control of cell migration, was decreased (demonstrated by western blot) by both SFs, suggesting that ROCK is involved in the mechanism of the components. Ongoing tests continue to establish other samples collected so that the tests described above will also be carried out. These results will contribute to the development of new therapies against these tumors. Support: FAPESP #2019/10003-3.