Anticancer properties of phospholipase A₂ from Daboia siamensis venom on human skin melanoma cells

 

Suchitra Khunsap¹, Orawan Khow¹, Supranee Buranapraditkun², Sunutcha Suntrarachun¹, Songchan Puthong³, Supatsorn Boonchang¹

 

1 Research and Development, Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

2 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cellular Immunology Laboratory Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

3 Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Chulalongkorn University Institute, Building 3, Phayathai Road, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

 

ABSTRACT

Background

Phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) is a major component of the Daboia siamensis venom, which is able to hydrolyse the membrane of various cells. For this reason, the activity of PLA₂ was investigated regarding its pharmaceutical properties. This study was conducted to explore the pharmacological properties of a PLA₂ from Daboia siamensis (dssPLA₂) venom on human skin melanoma cell line (SK-MEL-28).

 

Methods

dssPLA₂ was isolated by ion exchange and gel filtration columns. Various concentrations of dssPLA₂ were investigated for cytotoxic activity and inhibition of migration on SK-MEL-28 cells. Cell death analysis, mRNA expression levels of Notch I-III and BRAF V600E genes were also determined.

 

Results

dssPLA₂ exhibited cytotoxicity on SK-MEL-28 for 24 and 72 h as compared with untreated cells. However, it had no toxic effects on CCD-1064sk cells under the same conditions. dssPLA₂ (0.25 and 0.5 μg/mL) induced 17.16 and 30.60 % of apoptosis, while activated 6.53 and 7.05 % of necrotic cells. dssPLA₂ at 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 μg/mL could inhibit migration on SK-MEL-28 cells for 24 h by 31.06, 41.66, 50 and 68.75 %, respectively. The action of dssPLA₂ significantly reduced the levels of Notch I and BRAF V600E genes expression on SK-MEL-28 cells compared with untreated cells at 72 h.

 

Conclusions

This study indicates that dssPLA₂ had potential effects of apoptosis, necrosis, cytotoxicity and inhibition of migration on SK-MEL-28 cells. dssPLA₂ could possibly be a selective agent that targets cancer cells without affecting normal cells.

 

Key words: Phospholipase A₂; Daboia siamensis venom; Skin melanoma; Anticancer

 

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Committee on the Ethics of Human Research (Reference number R2015-04)

 

Received: October 9, 2015.

Accepted: February 10, 2016.

Revised: February 16, 2016.

 

Correspondence: sthaithumnas@yahoo.com.

 

Competing interests

The authors declare that there are no competing interests.

 

Authors’ contributions

SK designed the study, handled all experiments, discussed the results and drafted the manuscript. OK isolated the dssPLA₂ and its activity. SB performed on apoptotic analysis. SS worked on qRT-PCR. SP and SB helped in tissue culture processes and statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

 

doi: 10.1186/s40409-016-0061-z