engleski

Cytotoxic effect of melittin on human glioblastoma A1235 cells in vitro

Many treatments often applied in Western medicine originate from Asia and their popularity is growing. Poisonous animals, especially insects, have a long use in scientific research, and today form the basis for many drugs which are of great value in medicine since large number of them has the ability to kill tumor cells. Bee venom and its constituents are the ones that have been studied extensively in the past few years. Melittin is the main component and the principal toxin of bee venom. It is a small basic peptide, consisting of the known 26 amino acid sequence, with a powerful hemolytic activity. Since it is a very nonspecific cytolytic peptide that attacks all lipid membranes leading to significant toxicity, the presumption is that it has significant therapeutic benefits. Recent reports indicate several mechanisms of melittin’s cytotoxicity on different types of cancer cells such as cell cycle alterations, effect on proliferation and/or growth inhibition, as well as induction of apoptotic and necrotic cell death through several cancer cell death mechanisms, including the activation of caspases and matrix metalloproteinases. Here we are presenting data form the study that was undertaken to investigate possible anticancer ability of melittin towards human glioblastoma A1235 cells in vitro. Melittin was tested against A1235 cells in concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 50 μg/ml. After the treatment with melittin, A1235 cells displayed dose dependent cytotoxicity, evaluated by modified colorimetric MTT assay, with the IC50 value of 8.28 μg/ml. In addition, treatment with melittin caused significant morphological changes as determined by light microscopy. Morphological features were rounded and granulated cells, shrinkage and eventual detachment from the cell culture plates. Fast staining with ethidium bromide (within one hour of treatment), detected by fluorescent microscopy suggests that melittin induced necrotic type of cell death. Our results, in accordance with other available data on anti-proliferative and pro-death activity of melittin, suggest that this agent may be useful in treating cancer.

bee venom; melittin; A1235 cells; cytotoxicity; cell death

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