Abstract
BackgroundCnidarian venoms and extracts have shown a broad variety of biological activities including cytotoxic, antibacterial and antitumoral effects. Most of these studied extracts were obtained from sea anemones or jellyfish. The present study aimed to determine the toxic activity and assess the antitumor and antiparasitic potential of Palythoa caribaeorum venom by evaluating its in vitro toxicity on several models including human tumor cell lines and against the parasite Giardia intestinalis.MethodsThe presence of cytolysins and vasoconstrictor activity of P. caribaeorum venom were determined by hemolysis, PLA2 and isolated rat aortic ring assays, respectively. The cytotoxic effect was tested on HCT-15 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma), MCF-7 (human mammary adenocarcinoma), K562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia), U251 (human glyoblastoma), PC-3 (human prostatic adenocarcinoma) and SKLU-1 (human lung adenocarcinoma). An in vivo toxicity assay was performed with crickets and the antiparasitic assay was performed against G. intestinalis at 24 h of incubation.ResultsP. caribaeorum venom produced hemolytic and PLA2 activity and showed specific cytotoxicity against U251 and SKLU-1 cell lines, with approximately 50% growing inhibition. The venom was toxic to insects and showed activity against G. intestinalis in a dose-dependent manner by possibly altering its membrane osmotic equilibrium.ConclusionThese results suggest that P. caribaeorum venom contains compounds with potential therapeutic value against microorganisms and cancer.
Highlights
Cnidarian venoms and extracts have shown a broad variety of biological activities including cytotoxic, antibacterial and antitumoral effects
A few reports can be found in the Lazcano-Pérez et al Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases (2018) 24:12 literature about the antiparasitic and antibacterial properties of some cnidarians and even an antimicrobial peptide isolated from Aurelia aurita has been sequenced [16, 17]
The insecticidal activity results showed that P. caribaeorum venom was lethal to crickets, the determined lethal dose 50 (LD50) values at 24 h and 48 h for P. caribaeorum venom was 50.92 ± 10.85 and 3.78 ± 0.243 μg protein/g respectively (Fig. 3)
Summary
Cnidarian venoms and extracts have shown a broad variety of biological activities including cytotoxic, antibacterial and antitumoral effects. Most of these studied extracts were obtained from sea anemones or jellyfish. Extracts of cnidarian tissues have been found to contain a complex mixture of low molecular weight compounds, Venoms isolated from almost all classes of cnidarians have been found to be cytotoxic in several cellular or animal models [6]. A few reports can be found in the Lazcano-Pérez et al Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases (2018) 24:12 literature about the antiparasitic and antibacterial properties of some cnidarians and even an antimicrobial peptide isolated from Aurelia aurita has been sequenced [16, 17]
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