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Abstract
Snake venom contains a cocktail of compounds dominated by proteins and peptides, which make up the toxin. The toxin components of snake venom attack several targets in the human body including the neuromuscular system, kidney and blood coagulation system and cause pathologies. As such, the venom toxins can be managed and used for the treatment of these diseases. In this regard, Captopril used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases was the first animal venom toxin-based drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. Cancers cause morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to side effects associated with the current cancer treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy and surgery, there is a need to improve the efficacy of current treatments and/or develop novel drugs from natural sources including animal toxin-based drugs. There is a long history of earlier and ongoing studies implicating snake venom toxins as potential anticancer therapies. Here, we review the role of crude snake venoms and toxins including phospholipase A2, L-amino acid oxidase, C-type lectin and disintegrin as potential anticancer agents tested in cancer cell lines and animal tumour models in comparison to normal cell lines. Some of the anti-tumour activities of snake venom toxins include induction of cytotoxicity, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and inhibition of metastasis, angiogenesis and tumour growth. We thus propose the advancement of multidisciplinary approaches to more pre-clinical and clinical studies for enhanced bioavailability and targeted delivery of snake venom toxin-based anticancer drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedict C Offor
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa
| | - Lizelle A Piater
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa
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2
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Sofyantoro F, Septriani NI, Yudha DS, Wicaksono EA, Priyono DS, Putri WA, Primahesa A, Raharjeng ARP, Purwestri YA, Nuringtyas TR. Zebrafish as Versatile Model for Assessing Animal Venoms and Toxins: Current Applications and Future Prospects. Zebrafish 2024. [PMID: 38608228 DOI: 10.1089/zeb.2023.0088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Animal venoms and toxins hold promise as sources of novel drug candidates, therapeutic agents, and biomolecules. To fully harness their potential, it is crucial to develop reliable testing methods that provide a comprehensive understanding of their effects and mechanisms of action. However, traditional rodent assays encounter difficulties in mimicking venom-induced effects in human due to the impractical venom dosage levels. The search for reliable testing methods has led to the emergence of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a versatile model organism for evaluating animal venoms and toxins. Zebrafish possess genetic similarities to humans, rapid development, transparency, and amenability to high-throughput assays, making it ideal for assessing the effects of animal venoms and toxins. This review highlights unique attributes of zebrafish and explores their applications in studying venom- and toxin-induced effects from various species, including snakes, jellyfish, cuttlefish, anemones, spiders, and cone snails. Through zebrafish-based research, intricate physiological responses, developmental alterations, and potential therapeutic interventions induced by venoms are revealed. Novel techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, optogenetics, and high-throughput screening hold great promise for advancing venom research. As zebrafish-based insights converge with findings from other models, the comprehensive understanding of venom-induced effects continues to expand, guiding the development of targeted interventions and promoting both scientific knowledge and practical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fajar Sofyantoro
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | | | | | - Ega Adhi Wicaksono
- Faculties of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Dwi Sendi Priyono
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | | | - Alfian Primahesa
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Anita Restu Puji Raharjeng
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Fatah Palembang, South Sumatera, Indonesia
| | - Yekti Asih Purwestri
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Research Center for Biotechnology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Tri Rini Nuringtyas
- Faculties of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Research Center for Biotechnology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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Doupnik CA, Luer CA, Walsh CJ, Restivo J, Brick JX. Bioactive Properties of Venoms Isolated from Whiptail Stingrays and the Search for Molecular Mechanisms and Targets. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2024; 17:488. [PMID: 38675448 PMCID: PMC11053709 DOI: 10.3390/ph17040488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The venom-containing barb attached to their 'whip-like' tail provides stingrays a defensive mechanism for evading predators such as sharks. From human encounters, dermal stingray envenomation is characterized by intense pain often followed by tissue necrosis occurring over several days to weeks. The bioactive components in stingray venoms (SRVs) and their molecular targets and mechanisms that mediate these complex responses are not well understood. Given the utility of venom-derived proteins from other venomous species for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, we set out to characterize the bioactivity of SRV extracts from three local species that belong to the Dasyatoidea 'whiptail' superfamily. Multiple cell-based assays were used to quantify and compare the in vitro effects of these SRVs on different cell lines. All three SRVs demonstrated concentration-dependent growth-inhibitory effects on three different human cell lines tested. In contrast, a mouse fibrosarcoma cell line was markedly resistant to all three SRVs, indicating the molecular target(s) for mediating the SRV effects are not expressed on these cells. The multifunctional SRV responses were characterized by an acute disruption of cell adhesion leading to apoptosis. These findings aim to guide future investigations of individual SRV proteins and their molecular targets for potential use in biomedical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Craig A. Doupnik
- Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Carl A. Luer
- Marine Biomedical Research Program, Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA;
| | - Catherine J. Walsh
- Marine Immunology Program, Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA; (C.J.W.); (J.R.)
| | - Jessica Restivo
- Marine Immunology Program, Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA; (C.J.W.); (J.R.)
| | - Jacqueline Xinlan Brick
- Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA;
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Bezerra P, Motti EF. 3-NAntC: A Potent Crotoxin B-Derived Peptide against the Triple-Negative MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cell Line. Molecules 2024; 29:1646. [PMID: 38611925 PMCID: PMC11013444 DOI: 10.3390/molecules29071646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2024] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer stands as the most prevalent type of tumor and a significant contributor to cancer-related deaths. Among its various subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) presents the worst prognosis due to its aggressive nature and the absence of effective treatments. Crotoxin, a protein found in the venom of Crotalus genus snakes, has demonstrated notable antitumor activity against aggressive solid tumors. However, its application has been hindered by substantial toxicity in humans. In efforts to address this challenge, Crotoxin B-derived peptides were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their antitumor potential, leading to the discovery of 3-NAntC. Treatment with 3-NAntC at 1 µg/mL for 72 h notably reduced the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells to 49.0 ± 17.5% (p < 0.0001), while exhibiting minimal impact on the viability of HMEC cells (98.2 ± 13.8%) under the same conditions. Notably, 3-NAntC displayed superior antitumoral activity in vitro compared to cisplatin and exhibited a similar effect to doxorubicin. Further investigation revealed that 3-NAntC decreased the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells and induced G2/M phase arrest. It primarily prompted optimal cell death by apoptosis, with a lower incidence of the less desirable cell death by necrosis in comparison to doxorubicin. Additionally, 3-NAntC demonstrated low LDH release, and its cytotoxicity remained unaffected by the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA. In an in vivo zebrafish model, 3-NAntC exhibited excellent tolerability, showing no lethal effects and a low rate of malformations at high doses of up to 75 mg/mL. Overall, 3-NAntC emerges as a novel synthetic peptide with promising antitumor effects in vitro against TNBC cells and low toxicity in vivo.
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Zhu T, Zhang X, Li R, Wu B. Efficient production of peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase in yeast for protein C-terminal functionalization. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 263:130443. [PMID: 38417749 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.130443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024]
Abstract
Peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) is pivotal for C-terminal amidation of bioactive peptides in animals, offering substantial potential for customized protein synthesis. However, efficient PHM production has been hindered by the complexity of animal cell culture and the absence of glycosylation in bacterial hosts. Here, we demonstrate the recombinant expression of Caenorhabditis elegans PHM in the yeast Pichia pastoris, achieving a remarkable space-time yield of 28.8 U/L/day. This breakthrough surpasses prior PHM production rates and eliminates the need for specialized cultivation equipment or complex transfection steps. Mass spectrometry revealed N-glycosylation at residue N182 of recombinant CePHM, which impacts the enzyme's activity as indicated by biochemical experiments. To showcase the utility of CePHM, we performed C-terminal amidation on ubiquitin at a substrate loading of 30 g/L, a concentration meeting the requirements for pharmaceutical peptide production. Overall, this work establishes an efficient PHM production method, promising advancements in scalable manufacturing of C-terminally modified bioactive peptides and probe proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tong Zhu
- AIM center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xuanshuo Zhang
- AIM center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Ruifeng Li
- AIM center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Bian Wu
- AIM center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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Vieira APGC, de Souza AN, Lima WG, Brito JCM, Simião DC, Gonçalves LVR, Cordeiro LPB, de Oliveira Scoaris D, Fernandes SOA, Resende JM, Bechinger B, Verly RM, de Lima ME. The Synthetic Peptide LyeTx I mn∆K, Derived from Lycosa erythrognatha Spider Toxin, Is Active against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) In Vitro and In Vivo. Antibiotics (Basel) 2024; 13:248. [PMID: 38534683 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics13030248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2024] [Revised: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The urgent global health challenge posed by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections demands effective solutions. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent promising tools of research of new antibacterial agents and LyeTx I mn∆K, a short synthetic peptide based on the Lycosa erythrognatha spider venom, is a good representative. This study focused on analyzing the antimicrobial activities of LyeTx I mn∆K, including minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations, synergy and resensitization assays, lysis activity, the effect on biofilm, and the bacterial death curve in MRSA. Additionally, its characterization was conducted through isothermal titration calorimetry, dynamic light scattering, calcein release, and finally, efficacy in a mice wound model. The peptide demonstrates remarkable efficacy against planktonic cells (MIC 8-16 µM) and biofilms (>30% of inhibition) of MRSA, and outperforms vancomycin in terms of rapid bactericidal action and anti-biofilm effects. The mechanism involves significant membrane damage. Interactions with bacterial model membranes, including those with lysylphosphatidylglycerol (LysylPOPG) modifications, highlight the versatility and selectivity of this compound. Also, the peptide has the ability to sensitize resistant bacteria to conventional antibiotics, showing potential for combinatory therapy. Furthermore, using an in vivo model, this study showed that a formulated gel containing the peptide proved superior to vancomycin in treating MRSA-induced wounds in mice. Together, the results highlight LyeTx I mnΔK as a promising prototype for the development of effective therapeutic strategies against superficial MRSA infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Paula Gonçalves Coelho Vieira
- Faculdade de Saúde Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Medicina e Biomedicina, Belo Horizonte 30150-240, Brazil
| | - Amanda Neves de Souza
- Departamento de Química, FACET, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM)-Campus JK, Diamantina 39100-000, Brazil
- Institut de Chimie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7177, Université de Strasbourg, 67070 Strasbourg, France
| | - William Gustavo Lima
- Faculdade de Saúde Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Medicina e Biomedicina, Belo Horizonte 30150-240, Brazil
| | | | - Daniela Carolina Simião
- Laboratório de Radioisótopos, Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia-Campus Pampulha, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Lucas Vinícius Ribeiro Gonçalves
- Faculdade de Saúde Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Medicina e Biomedicina, Belo Horizonte 30150-240, Brazil
| | - Lídia Pereira Barbosa Cordeiro
- Departamento de Química, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | | | - Simone Odília Antunes Fernandes
- Laboratório de Radioisótopos, Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia-Campus Pampulha, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Jarbas Magalhães Resende
- Departamento de Química, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Burkhard Bechinger
- Institut de Chimie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7177, Université de Strasbourg, 67070 Strasbourg, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 75005 Paris, France
| | - Rodrigo Moreira Verly
- Departamento de Química, FACET, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM)-Campus JK, Diamantina 39100-000, Brazil
| | - Maria Elena de Lima
- Faculdade de Saúde Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Medicina e Biomedicina, Belo Horizonte 30150-240, Brazil
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Martinez PA, Teixeira IBDF, Siqueira-Silva T, da Silva FFB, Lima LAG, Chaves-Silveira J, Olalla-Tárraga MÅ, Gutiérrez JM, Amado TF. Climate change-related distributional range shifts of venomous snakes: a predictive modelling study of effects on public health and biodiversity. Lancet Planet Health 2024; 8:e163-e171. [PMID: 38453382 DOI: 10.1016/s2542-5196(24)00005-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Climate change is expected to have profound effects on the distribution of venomous snake species, including reductions in biodiversity and changes in patterns of envenomation of humans and domestic animals. We estimated the effect of future climate change on the distribution of venomous snake species and potential knock-on effects on biodiversity and public health. METHODS We built species distribution models based on the geographical distribution of 209 medically relevant venomous snake species (WHO categories 1 and 2) and present climatic variables, and used these models to project the potential distribution of species in 2070. We incorporated different future climatic scenarios into the model, which we used to estimate the loss and gain of areas potentially suitable for each species. We also assessed which countries were likely to gain new species in the future as a result of species crossing national borders. We integrated the species distribution models with different socioeconomic scenarios to estimate which countries would become more vulnerable to snakebites in 2070. FINDINGS Our results suggest that substantial losses of potentially suitable areas for the survival of most venomous snake species will occur by 2070. However, some species of high risk to public health could gain climatically suitable areas for habitation. Countries such as Niger, Namibia, China, Nepal, and Myanmar could potentially gain several venomous snake species from neighbouring countries. Furthermore, the combination of an increase in climatically suitable areas and socioeconomic factors (including low-income and high rural populations) means that southeast Asia and Africa (and countries including Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, India, and Thailand in particular) could have increased vulnerability to snakebites in the future, with potential effects on public human and veterinary health. INTERPRETATION Loss of venomous snake biodiversity in low-income countries will affect ecosystem functioning and result in the loss of valuable genetic resources. Additionally, climate change will create new challenges to public health in several low-income countries, particularly in southeast Asia and Africa. The international community needs to increase its efforts to counter the effects of climate change in the coming decades. FUNDING German Research Foundation, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, European Regional Development Fund.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Ariel Martinez
- Laboratório de Pesquisas Integrativas em Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil; Instituto de Cambio Global, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
| | | | - Tuany Siqueira-Silva
- Laboratório de Pesquisas Integrativas em Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil
| | | | - Luiz Antônio Gonzaga Lima
- Laboratório de Pesquisas Integrativas em Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil
| | - Jonatas Chaves-Silveira
- Laboratório de Pesquisas Integrativas em Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil
| | | | - José María Gutiérrez
- Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
| | - Talita Ferreira Amado
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
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Ringeval A, Farhat S, Fedosov A, Gerdol M, Greco S, Mary L, Modica MV, Puillandre N. DeTox: a pipeline for the detection of toxins in venomous organisms. Brief Bioinform 2024; 25:bbae094. [PMID: 38493344 PMCID: PMC10944572 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbae094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Venomous organisms have independently evolved the ability to produce toxins 101 times during their evolutionary history, resulting in over 200 000 venomous species. Collectively, these species produce millions of toxins, making them a valuable resource for bioprospecting and understanding the evolutionary mechanisms underlying genetic diversification. RNA-seq is the preferred method for characterizing toxin repertoires, but the analysis of the resulting data remains challenging. While early approaches relied on similarity-based mapping to known toxin databases, recent studies have highlighted the importance of structural features for toxin detection. The few existing pipelines lack an integration between these complementary approaches, and tend to be difficult to run for non-experienced users. To address these issues, we developed DeTox, a comprehensive and user-friendly tool for toxin research. It combines fast execution, parallelization and customization of parameters. DeTox was tested on published transcriptomes from gastropod mollusks, cnidarians and snakes, retrieving most putative toxins from the original articles and identifying additional peptides as potential toxins to be confirmed through manual annotation and eventually proteomic analysis. By integrating a structure-based search with similarity-based approaches, DeTox allows the comprehensive characterization of toxin repertoire in poorly-known taxa. The effect of the taxonomic bias in existing databases is minimized in DeTox, as mirrored in the detection of unique and divergent toxins that would have been overlooked by similarity-based methods. DeTox streamlines toxin annotation, providing a valuable tool for efficient identification of venom components that will enhance venom research in neglected taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan Ringeval
- Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Sarah Farhat
- Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Alexander Fedosov
- Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
- Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, P. O. Box 50007, SE-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Marco Gerdol
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms (BEOM), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Roma, Italy
| | - Samuele Greco
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Lou Mary
- Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Maria Vittoria Modica
- Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms (BEOM), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Roma, Italy
| | - Nicolas Puillandre
- Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
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Zulfiqar H, Guo Z, Ahmad RM, Ahmed Z, Cai P, Chen X, Zhang Y, Lin H, Shi Z. Deep-STP: a deep learning-based approach to predict snake toxin proteins by using word embeddings. Front Med (Lausanne) 2024; 10:1291352. [PMID: 38298505 PMCID: PMC10829051 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1291352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Snake venom contains many toxic proteins that can destroy the circulatory system or nervous system of prey. Studies have found that these snake venom proteins have the potential to treat cardiovascular and nervous system diseases. Therefore, the study of snake venom protein is conducive to the development of related drugs. The research technologies based on traditional biochemistry can accurately identify these proteins, but the experimental cost is high and the time is long. Artificial intelligence technology provides a new means and strategy for large-scale screening of snake venom proteins from the perspective of computing. In this paper, we developed a sequence-based computational method to recognize snake toxin proteins. Specially, we utilized three different feature descriptors, namely g-gap, natural vector and word 2 vector, to encode snake toxin protein sequences. The analysis of variance (ANOVA), gradient-boost decision tree algorithm (GBDT) combined with incremental feature selection (IFS) were used to optimize the features, and then the optimized features were input into the deep learning model for model training. The results show that our model can achieve a prediction performance with an accuracy of 82.00% in 10-fold cross-validation. The model is further verified on independent data, and the accuracy rate reaches to 81.14%, which demonstrated that our model has excellent prediction performance and robustness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hasan Zulfiqar
- Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zhiling Guo
- Beidahuang Industry Group General Hospital, Harbin, China
| | - Ramala Masood Ahmad
- Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Zahoor Ahmed
- Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Peiling Cai
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiang Chen
- Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Innovative Institute of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy, Academy for Interdiscipline, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Hao Lin
- Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zheng Shi
- Clinical Genetics Laboratory, Clinical Medical College & Affiliated Hospital, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
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Wiezel GA, Oliveira IS, Reis MB, Ferreira IG, Cordeiro KR, Bordon KCF, Arantes EC. The complex repertoire of Tityus spp. venoms: Advances on their composition and pharmacological potential of their toxins. Biochimie 2024; 220:144-166. [PMID: 38176606 DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2023.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Animal venoms are a rich and complex source of components, including peptides (such as neurotoxins, anionic peptides and hypotensins), lipids, proteins (such as proteases, hyaluronidases and phospholipases) and inorganic compounds, which affect all biological systems of the envenoming victim. Their action may result in a wide range of clinical manifestations, including tachy/bradycardia, hyper/hypotension, disorders in blood coagulation, pain, edema, inflammation, fever, muscle paralysis, coma and even death. Scorpions are one of the most studied venomous animals in the world and interesting bioactive molecules have been isolated and identified from their venoms over the years. Tityus spp. are among the scorpions with high number of accidents reported in the Americas, especially in Brazil. Their venoms have demonstrated interesting results in the search for novel agents with antimicrobial, anti-viral, anti-parasitic, hypotensive, immunomodulation, anti-insect, antitumor and/or antinociceptive activities. Furthermore, other recent activities still under investigation include drug delivery action, design of anti-epileptic drugs, investigation of sodium channel function, treatment of erectile disfunction and priapism, improvement of scorpion antivenom and chelating molecules activity. In this scenario, this paper focuses on reviewing advances on Tityus venom components mainly through the modern omics technologies as well as addressing potential therapeutic agents from their venoms and highlighting this abundant source of pharmacologically active molecules with biotechnological application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gisele A Wiezel
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Isadora S Oliveira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Søtolfts Plads, Building 239 Room 006, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark.
| | - Mouzarllem B Reis
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Isabela G Ferreira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Kalynka R Cordeiro
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Karla C F Bordon
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Eliane C Arantes
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Avenida Do Café s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
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11
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Nachtigall PG, Durham AM, Rokyta DR, Junqueira-de-Azevedo ILM. ToxCodAn-Genome: an automated pipeline for toxin-gene annotation in genome assembly of venomous lineages. Gigascience 2024; 13:giad116. [PMID: 38241143 PMCID: PMC10797961 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giad116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The rapid development of sequencing technologies resulted in a wide expansion of genomics studies using venomous lineages. This facilitated research focusing on understanding the evolution of adaptive traits and the search for novel compounds that can be applied in agriculture and medicine. However, the toxin annotation of genomes is a laborious and time-consuming task, and no consensus pipeline is currently available. No computational tool currently exists to address the challenges specific to toxin annotation and to ensure the reproducibility of the process. RESULTS Here, we present ToxCodAn-Genome, the first software designed to perform automated toxin annotation in genomes of venomous lineages. This pipeline was designed to retrieve the full-length coding sequences of toxins and to allow the detection of novel truncated paralogs and pseudogenes. We tested ToxCodAn-Genome using 12 genomes of venomous lineages and achieved high performance on recovering their current toxin annotations. This tool can be easily customized to allow improvements in the final toxin annotation set and can be expanded to virtually any venomous lineage. ToxCodAn-Genome is fast, allowing it to run on any personal computer, but it can also be executed in multicore mode, taking advantage of large high-performance servers. In addition, we provide a guide to direct future research in the venomics field to ensure a confident toxin annotation in the genome being studied. As a case study, we sequenced and annotated the toxin repertoire of Bothrops alternatus, which may facilitate future evolutionary and biomedical studies using vipers as models. CONCLUSIONS ToxCodAn-Genome is suitable to perform toxin annotation in the genome of venomous species and may help to improve the reproducibility of further studies. ToxCodAn-Genome and the guide are freely available at https://github.com/pedronachtigall/ToxCodAn-Genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro G Nachtigall
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, CeTICS, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900 SP, Brazil
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, 32306-4295 FL, USA
| | - Alan M Durham
- Departamento de Ciência da Computação, Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, 05508-090 SP, Brazil
| | - Darin R Rokyta
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, 32306-4295 FL, USA
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12
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Dos Santos Arraes DR, Rodrigues ABL, Sanches PR, Costa Campos CE, Moreira da Silva de Almeida SS, Reis Ferreira Lima J, Dias Lima J, da Silva GA. Bioactive alkaloids from the venom of Dendrobatoidea Cope, 1865: a scoping review. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev 2024; 27:1-20. [PMID: 37889647 DOI: 10.1080/10937404.2023.2270408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Bioactive compounds derived from secondary metabolism in animals have refined selectivity and potency for certain biological targets. The superfamily Dendrobatoidea is adapted to the dietary sequestration and secretion of toxic alkaloids, which play a role in several biological activities, and thus serve as a potential source for pharmacological and biotechnological applications. This article constitutes a scoping review to understand the trends in experimental research involving bioactive alkaloids derived from Dendrobatoidea based upon scientometric approaches. Forty-eight (48) publications were found in 30 journals in the period of 60 years, between 1962 and 2022. More than 23 structural classes of alkaloids were cited, with 27.63% for batrachotoxins, 13.64% for pyridinics, with an emphasis on epibatidine, 16.36% for pumiliotoxins, and 11.82% for histrionicotoxins. These tests included in vivo (54.9%), in vitro (39.4%), and in silico simulations (5.6%). Most compounds (54.8%) were isolated from skin extracts, whereas the remainder were obtained through molecular synthesis. Thirteen main biological activities were identified, including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (27.59%), sodium channel inhibitors (12.07%), cardiac (12.07%), analgesic (8.62%), and neuromuscular effects (8.62%). The substances were cited as being of natural origin in the "Dendrobatidae" family, genus "Phyllobates," "Dendrobates," and seven species: Epipedobates tricolor, Phyllobates aurotaenia, Oophaga histrionica, Oophaga pumilio, Phyllobates terribilis, Epipedobates anthonyi, and Ameerega flavopicta. To date, only a few biological activities have been experimentally tested; hence, further studies on the bioprospecting of animal compounds and ecological approaches are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Janaina Reis Ferreira Lima
- Herpetology Laboratory, Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the State of Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
| | - Jucivaldo Dias Lima
- Herpetology Laboratory, Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the State of Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
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13
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Vasileva ID, Samgina TY, Lebedev AT. Mass Spectrometric De Novo Sequencing of Natural Peptides. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2758:61-75. [PMID: 38549008 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3646-6_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Natural peptides secreted under stress conditions by many organisms are bioactive molecules with a broad spectrum of activities. These molecules could become potential models for novel pharmaceuticals, to which bacteria, according to modern scientific concepts, do not have and cannot develop resistance. Taking this into consideration, it is necessary to clarify the amino acid sequences of such peptides. Here we describe our approach to de novo sequencing of amphibians' skin secretion peptides.
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14
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Phan P, Deshwal A, McMahon TA, Slikas M, Andrews E, Becker B, Kumar TKS. A Review of Rattlesnake Venoms. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 16:2. [PMID: 38276526 PMCID: PMC10818703 DOI: 10.3390/toxins16010002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Venom components are invaluable in biomedical research owing to their specificity and potency. Many of these components exist in two genera of rattlesnakes, Crotalus and Sistrurus, with high toxicity and proteolytic activity variation. This review focuses on venom components within rattlesnakes, and offers a comparison and itemized list of factors dictating venom composition, as well as presenting their known characteristics, activities, and significant applications in biosciences. There are 64 families and subfamilies of proteins present in Crotalus and Sistrurus venom. Snake venom serine proteases (SVSP), snake venom metalloproteases (SVMP), and phospholipases A2 (PLA2) are the standard components in Crotalus and Sistrurus venom. Through this review, we highlight gaps in the knowledge of rattlesnake venom; there needs to be more information on the venom composition of three Crotalus species and one Sistrurus subspecies. We discuss the activity and importance of both major and minor components in biomedical research and drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phuc Phan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA;
| | - Anant Deshwal
- Department of Biology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, USA; (T.A.M.); (M.S.); (E.A.)
| | - Tyler Anthony McMahon
- Department of Biology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, USA; (T.A.M.); (M.S.); (E.A.)
| | - Matthew Slikas
- Department of Biology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, USA; (T.A.M.); (M.S.); (E.A.)
| | - Elodie Andrews
- Department of Biology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, USA; (T.A.M.); (M.S.); (E.A.)
| | - Brian Becker
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA;
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15
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Pereira AFM, Cavalcante JS, Angstmam DG, Almeida C, Soares GS, Pucca MB, Ferreira Junior RS. Unveiling the Pain Relief Potential: Harnessing Analgesic Peptides from Animal Venoms. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:2766. [PMID: 38140106 PMCID: PMC10748172 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15122766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The concept of pain encompasses a complex interplay of sensory and emotional experiences associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Accurately describing and localizing pain, whether acute or chronic, mild or severe, poses a challenge due to its diverse manifestations. Understanding the underlying origins and mechanisms of these pain variations is crucial for effective management and pharmacological interventions. Derived from a wide spectrum of species, including snakes, arthropods, mollusks, and vertebrates, animal venoms have emerged as abundant repositories of potential biomolecules exhibiting analgesic properties across a broad spectrum of pain models. This review focuses on highlighting the most promising venom-derived toxins investigated as potential prototypes for analgesic drugs. The discussion further encompasses research prospects, challenges in advancing analgesics, and the practical application of venom-derived toxins. As the field continues its evolution, tapping into the latent potential of these natural bioactive compounds holds the key to pioneering approaches in pain management and treatment. Therefore, animal toxins present countless possibilities for treating pain caused by different diseases. The development of new analgesic drugs from toxins is one of the directions that therapy must follow, and it seems to be moving forward by recommending the composition of multimodal therapy to combat pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Flávia Marques Pereira
- Center for the Study of Venoms and Venomous Animals (CEVAP), São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil;
| | - Joeliton S. Cavalcante
- Graduate Program in Tropical Diseases, Botucatu Medical School (FMB), São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil; (J.S.C.); (D.G.A.)
| | - Davi Gomes Angstmam
- Graduate Program in Tropical Diseases, Botucatu Medical School (FMB), São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil; (J.S.C.); (D.G.A.)
| | - Cayo Almeida
- Center of Mathematics, Computing Sciences and Cognition, Federal University of ABC, Santo André 09280-560, SP, Brazil;
| | - Gean S. Soares
- Delphina Rinaldi Abdel Azil Hospital and Emergency Room (HPSDRAA), Manaus 69093-415, AM, Brazil;
| | - Manuela B. Pucca
- Department of Clinical Analysis, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University, Araraquara 14801-320, SP, Brazil;
| | - Rui Seabra Ferreira Junior
- Center for the Study of Venoms and Venomous Animals (CEVAP), São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil;
- Graduate Program in Tropical Diseases, Botucatu Medical School (FMB), São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil; (J.S.C.); (D.G.A.)
- Center for Translational Science and Development of Biopharmaceuticals FAPESP/CEVAP, São Paulo State University (UNESP—Univ Estadual Paulista), Botucatu 01419-901, SP, Brazil
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Sevilla-Sánchez MJ, Montoya-Gómez A, Osorno-Valencia D, Montealegre-Sánchez L, Mosquera-Escudero M, Jiménez-Charris E. Exploring the Safety of Pllans-II and Antitumoral Potential of Its Recombinant Isoform in Cervical Cancer Therapy. Cells 2023; 12:2812. [PMID: 38132131 PMCID: PMC10741390 DOI: 10.3390/cells12242812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The antitumor potential of proteins from snake venoms has been studied in recent decades, and evidence has emerged that phospholipases A2 can selectively attack cells of various types of tumors. Previous results have shown that phospholipase A2 "Pllans-II," isolated from Porthidium lansbergii lansbergii snake venom, displayed antitumoral activity on cervical cancer and did not alter the viability of non-tumorigenic cells. However, until now, there was no evidence of its safety at the local and systemic levels, nor had experiments been developed to demonstrate that its production using recombinant technology allows us to obtain a molecule with effects similar to those generated by native phospholipase. Thus, we evaluated the impact caused by Pllans-II on murine biomodels, determining whether it induced local hemorrhage or increased pro-inflammatory and liver damage markers and histological alterations in the liver and kidneys. Additionally, the protein was produced using recombinant technology using a pET28a expression vector and the BL21 (DE3) Escherichia coli strain. Equally, its enzymatic activity and anticancer effect were evaluated on cervical cancer lines such as HeLa and Ca Ski. The results demonstrated that Pllans-II did not generate hemorrhagic activity, nor did it increase the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1B, or TNF-α at doses of 3.28, 1.64, and 0.82 mg/kg. There was also no evidence of organ damage, and only ALT and AST increased in mild levels at the two highest concentrations. Additionally, the recombinant version of Pllans-II showed conservation in its catalytic activity and the ability to generate death in HeLa and Ca Ski cells (42% and 23%, respectively). These results demonstrate the innocuity of Pllans-II at the lowest dose and constitute an advance in considering a molecule produced using recombinant technology a drug candidate for selective attacks against cervical cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- María José Sevilla-Sánchez
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
| | - Alejandro Montoya-Gómez
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
| | - Daniel Osorno-Valencia
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
| | - Leonel Montealegre-Sánchez
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
- Grupo de investigación en Ingeniería Biomédica-GBIO, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Cali 760030, Colombia
| | - Mildrey Mosquera-Escudero
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
| | - Eliécer Jiménez-Charris
- Grupo de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali 760043, Colombia; (M.J.S.-S.); (A.M.-G.); (D.O.-V.); (L.M.-S.); (M.M.-E.)
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17
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Shin MK, Hwang IW, Jang BY, Bu KB, Han DH, Lee SH, Oh JW, Yoo JS, Sung JS. The Identification of a Novel Spider Toxin Peptide, Lycotoxin-Pa2a, with Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Activities. Antibiotics (Basel) 2023; 12:1708. [PMID: 38136742 PMCID: PMC10740532 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12121708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
With the increasing challenge of controlling infectious diseases due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, the importance of discovering new antimicrobial agents is rapidly increasing. Animal venoms contain a variety of functional peptides, making them a promising platform for pharmaceutical development. In this study, a novel toxin peptide with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities was discovered from the spider venom gland transcriptome by implementing computational approaches. Lycotoxin-Pa2a (Lytx-Pa2a) showed homology to known-spider toxin, where functional prediction indicated the potential of both antibacterial and anti-inflammatory peptides without hemolytic activity. The colony-forming assay and minimum inhibitory concentration test showed that Lytx-Pa2a exhibited comparable or stronger antibacterial activity against pathogenic strains than melittin. Following mechanistic studies revealed that Lytx-Pa2a disrupts both cytoplasmic and outer membranes of bacteria while simultaneously inducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. The peptide exerted no significant toxicity when treated to human primary cells, murine macrophages, and bovine red blood cells. Moreover, Lytx-Pa2a alleviated lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in mouse macrophages by suppressing the expression of inflammatory mediators. These findings not only suggested that Lytx-Pa2a with dual activity can be utilized as a new antimicrobial agent for infectious diseases but also demonstrated the implementation of in silico methods for discovering a novel functional peptide, which may enhance the future utilization of biological resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Kyoung Shin
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - In-Wook Hwang
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Bo-Young Jang
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Kyung-Bin Bu
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Dong-Hee Han
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Seung-Ho Lee
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Jin Wook Oh
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Jung Sun Yoo
- Species Diversity Research Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon 22689, Republic of Korea;
| | - Jung-Suk Sung
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (I.-W.H.); (B.-Y.J.); (K.-B.B.); (D.-H.H.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
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18
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Shin MK, Park HR, Hwang IW, Bu KB, Jang BY, Lee SH, Oh JW, Yoo JS, Sung JS. In Silico-Based Design of a Hybrid Peptide with Antimicrobial Activity against Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Using a Spider Toxin Peptide. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:668. [PMID: 38133172 PMCID: PMC10747792 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15120668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The escalating prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses an immediate and grave threat to public health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have gained significant attention as a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. Animal venom comprises a diverse array of bioactive compounds, which can be a rich source for identifying new functional peptides. In this study, we identified a toxin peptide, Lycotoxin-Pa1a (Lytx-Pa1a), from the transcriptome of the Pardosa astrigera spider venom gland. To enhance its functional properties, we employed an in silico approach to design a novel hybrid peptide, KFH-Pa1a, by predicting antibacterial and cytotoxic functionalities and incorporating the amino-terminal Cu(II)- and Ni(II) (ATCUN)-binding motif. KFH-Pa1a demonstrated markedly superior antimicrobial efficacy against pathogens, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, compared to Lytx-Pa1a. Notably, KFH-Pa1a exerted several distinct mechanisms, including the disruption of the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, the generation of intracellular ROS, and the cleavage and inhibition of bacterial DNA. Additionally, the hybrid peptide showed synergistic activity when combined with conventional antibiotics. Our research not only identified a novel toxin peptide from spider venom but demonstrated in silico-based design of hybrid AMP with strong antimicrobial activity that can contribute to combating MDR pathogens, broadening the utilization of biological resources by incorporating computational approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Kyoung Shin
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Hye-Ran Park
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - In-Wook Hwang
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Kyung-Bin Bu
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Bo-Young Jang
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Seung-Ho Lee
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Jin Wook Oh
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
| | - Jung Sun Yoo
- Species Diversity Research Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon 22689, Republic of Korea;
| | - Jung-Suk Sung
- Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea; (M.K.S.); (H.-R.P.); (I.-W.H.); (K.-B.B.); (B.-Y.J.); (S.-H.L.); (J.W.O.)
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19
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Kini RM, Utkin YN. Molecular Mechanisms of Animal Toxins, Venoms and Antivenoms. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:16389. [PMID: 38003582 PMCID: PMC10671026 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242216389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
In many animals belonging to different taxa, venoms evolved as a means of defense and/or a means of attack/hunting [...].
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Affiliation(s)
- R. Manjunatha Kini
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117558, Singapore;
| | - Yuri N. Utkin
- Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, 117997 Moscow, Russia
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20
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Xia Z, He D, Wu Y, Kwok HF, Cao Z. Scorpion venom peptides: Molecular diversity, structural characteristics, and therapeutic use from channelopathies to viral infections and cancers. Pharmacol Res 2023; 197:106978. [PMID: 37923027 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Animal venom is an important evolutionary innovation in nature. As one of the most representative animal venoms, scorpion venom contains an extremely diverse set of bioactive peptides. Scorpion venom peptides not only are 'poisons' that immobilize, paralyze, kill, or dissolve preys but also become important candidates for drug development and design. Here, the review focuses on the molecular diversity of scorpion venom peptides, their typical structural characteristics, and their multiple therapeutic or pharmaceutical applications in channelopathies, viral infections and cancers. Especially, the group of scorpion toxin TRPTx targeting transient receptor potential (TRP) channels is systematically summarized and worthy of attention because TRP channels play a crucial role in the regulation of homeostasis and the occurrence of diseases in human. We also further establish the potential relationship between the molecular characteristics and functional applications of scorpion venom peptides to provide a research basis for modern drug development and clinical utilization of scorpion venom resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiqiang Xia
- School of Biological and Food Processing Engineering, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, China
| | - Dangui He
- State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Shenzhen Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macao; Cancer Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macao
| | - Yingliang Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Shenzhen Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Hang Fai Kwok
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macao; Cancer Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macao; MoE Frontiers Science Center for Precision Oncology, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macao.
| | - Zhijian Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Shenzhen Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Bio-drug Research Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
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21
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Ergen PH, Shorter S, Ntziachristos V, Ovsepian SV. Neurotoxin-Derived Optical Probes for Biological and Medical Imaging. Mol Imaging Biol 2023; 25:799-814. [PMID: 37468801 PMCID: PMC10598172 DOI: 10.1007/s11307-023-01838-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Revised: 07/04/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
The superb specificity and potency of biological toxins targeting various ion channels and receptors are of major interest for the delivery of therapeutics to distinct cell types and subcellular compartments. Fused with reporter proteins or labelled with fluorophores and nanocomposites, animal toxins and their detoxified variants also offer expanding opportunities for visualisation of a range of molecular processes and functions in preclinical models, as well as clinical studies. This article presents state-of-the-art optical probes derived from neurotoxins targeting ion channels, with discussions of their applications in basic and translational biomedical research. It describes the design and production of probes and reviews their applications with advantages and limitations, with prospects for future improvements. Given the advances in imaging tools and expanding research areas benefiting from the use of optical probes, described here resources should assist the discovery process and facilitate high-precision interrogation and therapeutic interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pinar Helin Ergen
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich London, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom
| | - Susan Shorter
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich London, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom
| | - Vasilis Ntziachristos
- Chair of Biological Imaging at the Central Institute for Translational Cancer Research (TranslaTUM), School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, 81675, Munich, Germany
- Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging, Helmholtz Zentrum München (GmbH), 85764, Neuherberg, Germany
- Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI), Technical University of Munich, 80992, Munich, Germany
- DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), partner site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany
| | - Saak Victor Ovsepian
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich London, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom.
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22
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Wilson R, Hu Z, O'Brien C, Meer E, Agarwal A, Murray T. A Review of Materials and Medications with Religious or Dietary Significance in the Interventional Radiology Suite. J Vasc Interv Radiol 2023; 34:1717-1721. [PMID: 37406772 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2023.06.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
A holistic approach to patient-centered care should include cultural and religious considerations. Certain cultural groups have beliefs that may restrict the use of particular animal-derived products and chemicals. A working knowledge of ingredients commonly used in the interventional suite with religious and cultural connotations may be helpful. This review article highlights medications and medical devices with cultural or religiously sensitive ingredients used in interventional radiology departments and provides a framework for addressing this common scenario.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Wilson
- Department of Radiology, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Zoe Hu
- Schooland School of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cormac O'Brien
- Department of Radiology, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | - Emtenan Meer
- Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | | | - Timothy Murray
- Department of Radiology, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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23
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Gómez-García A, Jiménez DAA, Zamora WJ, Barazorda-Ccahuana HL, Chávez-Fumagalli MÁ, Valli M, Andricopulo AD, Bolzani VDS, Olmedo DA, Solís PN, Núñez MJ, Rodríguez Pérez JR, Valencia Sánchez HA, Cortés Hernández HF, Medina-Franco JL. Navigating the Chemical Space and Chemical Multiverse of a Unified Latin American Natural Product Database: LANaPDB. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:1388. [PMID: 37895859 PMCID: PMC10609821 DOI: 10.3390/ph16101388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The number of databases of natural products (NPs) has increased substantially. Latin America is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity, enabling the identification of novel NPs, which has encouraged both the development of databases and the implementation of those that are being created or are under development. In a collective effort from several Latin American countries, herein we introduce the first version of the Latin American Natural Products Database (LANaPDB), a public compound collection that gathers the chemical information of NPs contained in diverse databases from this geographical region. The current version of LANaPDB unifies the information from six countries and contains 12,959 chemical structures. The structural classification showed that the most abundant compounds are the terpenoids (63.2%), phenylpropanoids (18%) and alkaloids (11.8%). From the analysis of the distribution of properties of pharmaceutical interest, it was observed that many LANaPDB compounds satisfy some drug-like rules of thumb for physicochemical properties. The concept of the chemical multiverse was employed to generate multiple chemical spaces from two different fingerprints and two dimensionality reduction techniques. Comparing LANaPDB with FDA-approved drugs and the major open-access repository of NPs, COCONUT, it was concluded that the chemical space covered by LANaPDB completely overlaps with COCONUT and, in some regions, with FDA-approved drugs. LANaPDB will be updated, adding more compounds from each database, plus the addition of databases from other Latin American countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Gómez-García
- DIFACQUIM Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, School of Chemistry, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Avenida Universidad 3000, Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
| | - Daniel A. Acuña Jiménez
- CBio3 Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José 11501-2060, Costa Rica; (D.A.A.J.); (W.J.Z.)
| | - William J. Zamora
- CBio3 Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José 11501-2060, Costa Rica; (D.A.A.J.); (W.J.Z.)
- Laboratory of Computational Toxicology and Artificial Intelligence (LaToxCIA), Biological Testing Laboratory (LEBi), University of Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José 11501-2060, Costa Rica
- Advanced Computing Lab (CNCA), National High Technology Center (CeNAT), Pavas, San José 1174-1200, Costa Rica
| | - Haruna L. Barazorda-Ccahuana
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa Maria, Arequipa 04000, Peru; (H.L.B.-C.); (M.Á.C.-F.)
| | - Miguel Á. Chávez-Fumagalli
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa Maria, Arequipa 04000, Peru; (H.L.B.-C.); (M.Á.C.-F.)
| | - Marilia Valli
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Computational Chemistry (LQMC), Centre for Research and Innovation in Biodiversity and Drug Discovery (CIBFar), São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC), University of São Paulo (USP), Av. João Dagnone, 1100, São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil; (M.V.); (A.D.A.)
| | - Adriano D. Andricopulo
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Computational Chemistry (LQMC), Centre for Research and Innovation in Biodiversity and Drug Discovery (CIBFar), São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC), University of São Paulo (USP), Av. João Dagnone, 1100, São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil; (M.V.); (A.D.A.)
| | - Vanderlan da S. Bolzani
- Nuclei of Bioassays, Biosynthesis and Ecophysiology of Natural Products (NuBBE), Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Prof. Francisco Degni, 55, Araraquara 14800-900, SP, Brazil;
| | - Dionisio A. Olmedo
- Center for Pharmacognostic Research on Panamanian Flora (CIFLORPAN), College of Pharmacy, University of Panama, Av. Manuel E. Batista and Jose De Fabrega, Panama City 3366, Panama; (D.A.O.); (P.N.S.)
| | - Pablo N. Solís
- Center for Pharmacognostic Research on Panamanian Flora (CIFLORPAN), College of Pharmacy, University of Panama, Av. Manuel E. Batista and Jose De Fabrega, Panama City 3366, Panama; (D.A.O.); (P.N.S.)
| | - Marvin J. Núñez
- Natural Product Research Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of El Salvador, Final Ave. Mártires Estudiantes del 30 de Julio, San Salvador 01101, El Salvador;
| | - Johny R. Rodríguez Pérez
- GIFES Research Group, School of Chemistry Technology, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira 660003, Colombia; (J.R.R.P.); (H.A.V.S.); (H.F.C.H.)
- GIEPRONAL Research Group, School of Basic Sciences, Technology and Engineering, Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Dosquebradas 661001, Colombia
| | - Hoover A. Valencia Sánchez
- GIFES Research Group, School of Chemistry Technology, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira 660003, Colombia; (J.R.R.P.); (H.A.V.S.); (H.F.C.H.)
| | - Héctor F. Cortés Hernández
- GIFES Research Group, School of Chemistry Technology, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira 660003, Colombia; (J.R.R.P.); (H.A.V.S.); (H.F.C.H.)
| | - José L. Medina-Franco
- DIFACQUIM Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, School of Chemistry, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Avenida Universidad 3000, Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
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Hafez Ghoran S, Taktaz F, Sousa E, Fernandes C, Kijjoa A. Peptides from Marine-Derived Fungi: Chemistry and Biological Activities. Mar Drugs 2023; 21:510. [PMID: 37888445 PMCID: PMC10608792 DOI: 10.3390/md21100510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Marine natural products are well-recognized as potential resources to fill the pipeline of drug leads to enter the pharmaceutical industry. In this circumstance, marine-derived fungi are one of the unique sources of bioactive secondary metabolites due to their capacity to produce diverse polyketides and peptides with unique structures and diverse biological activities. The present review covers the peptides from marine-derived fungi reported from the literature published from January 1991 to June 2023, and various scientific databases, including Elsevier, ACS publications, Taylor and Francis, Wiley Online Library, MDPI, Springer, Thieme, Bentham, ProQuest, and the Marine Pharmacology website, are used for a literature search. This review focuses on chemical characteristics, sources, and biological and pharmacological activities of 366 marine fungal peptides belonging to various classes, such as linear, cyclic, and depsipeptides. Among 30 marine-derived fungal genera, isolated from marine macro-organisms such as marine algae, sponges, coral, and mangrove plants, as well as deep sea sediments, species of Aspergillus were found to produce the highest number of peptides (174 peptides), followed by Penicillium (23 peptides), Acremonium (22 peptides), Eurotium (18 peptides), Trichoderma (18 peptides), Simplicillium (17 peptides), and Beauveria (12 peptides). The cytotoxic activity against a broad spectrum of human cancer cell lines was the predominant biological activity of the reported marine peptides (32%), whereas antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and various enzyme inhibition activities ranged from 7% to 20%. In the first part of this review, the chemistry of marine peptides is discussed and followed by their biological activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salar Hafez Ghoran
- H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan;
| | - Fatemeh Taktaz
- Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Naples, Italy;
| | - Emília Sousa
- Laboratório de Química Orgânica e Farmacêutica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto and CIIMAR, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; (E.S.); (C.F.)
| | - Carla Fernandes
- Laboratório de Química Orgânica e Farmacêutica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto and CIIMAR, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; (E.S.); (C.F.)
| | - Anake Kijjoa
- ICBAS—Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto and CIIMAR, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
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25
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Almeida GDO, de Oliveira IS, Arantes EC, Sampaio SV. Snake venom disintegrins update: insights about new findings. J Venom Anim Toxins Incl Trop Dis 2023; 29:e20230039. [PMID: 37818211 PMCID: PMC10561651 DOI: 10.1590/1678-9199-jvatitd-2023-0039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Snake venom disintegrins are low molecular weight, non-enzymatic proteins rich in cysteine, present in the venom of snakes from the families Viperidae, Crotalidae, Atractaspididae, Elapidae, and Colubridae. This family of proteins originated in venom through the proteolytic processing of metalloproteinases (SVMPs), which, in turn, evolved from a gene encoding an A Disintegrin And Metalloprotease (ADAM) molecule. Disintegrins have a recognition motif for integrins in their structure, allowing interaction with these transmembrane adhesion receptors and preventing their binding to proteins in the extracellular matrix and other cells. This interaction gives disintegrins their wide range of biological functions, including inhibition of platelet aggregation and antitumor activity. As a result, many studies have been conducted in an attempt to use these natural compounds as a basis for developing therapies for the treatment of various diseases. Furthermore, the FDA has approved Tirofiban and Eptifibatide as antiplatelet compounds, and they are synthesized from the structure of echistatin and barbourin, respectively. In this review, we discuss some of the main functional and structural characteristics of this class of proteins and their potential for therapeutic use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela de Oliveira Almeida
- Department of Clinical Analysis, Toxicology and Food Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Isadora Sousa de Oliveira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Eliane Candiani Arantes
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Suely Vilela Sampaio
- Department of Clinical Analysis, Toxicology and Food Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
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26
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Yin WH, You YM, Tembrock LR, Ding LJ, Zhang CG, Zhao Y, Yang ZZ. Transcriptome-based analyses reveal venom diversity in two araneomorph spiders, Psechrus triangulus and Hippasa lycosina. Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics 2023; 47:101101. [PMID: 37352672 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbd.2023.101101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
The spiders Psechrus triangulus and Hippasa lycosina are widely distributed in Yunnan Province, China, and are important natural enemies of agricultural pests, yet studies regarding the composition of their venom are lacking. In this study, cDNA libraries were constructed from venom gland tissue of P. triangulus and H. lycosina and used for transcriptomic analysis. From the analysis, 39 and 31 toxin-like sequences were predicted for P. triangulus and H. lycosina, respectively. The predicted neurotoxin sequences were categorized according to cysteine sequence motifs, and the predicted neurotoxin sequences of P. triangulus and H. lycosina could be classified into 9 and 6 toxin families, respectively. In addition, potential acetylcholinesterase, hyaluronidase, and astaxanthin-like metalloproteinases were identified through annotation. In summary, transcriptomic techniques were invaluable in mining the gene expression information from these two spider species to explore the toxin composition of their venom and determine how they differ. Studies of this type provide essential baseline data for studying the evolution and physiological activities of spider toxins and for the potential development of medicinal compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Hao Yin
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
| | - Yong-Ming You
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
| | - Luke R Tembrock
- Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Li-Jun Ding
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
| | - Cheng-Gui Zhang
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
| | - Yu Zhao
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China.
| | - Zi-Zhong Yang
- Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Entomological Biopharmaceutical R & D, Dali University, Dali 671000, China; National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Entomoceutics, Dali University, Dali 671000, China.
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27
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Villarreal CF, Nascimento PGBD, Ferreira BR, Funez MI. Sérgio Ferreira beyond Pharmacology: His Role as a Science Communicator. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:516. [PMID: 37755942 PMCID: PMC10535959 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15090516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Historically, toxins from animal venoms have contributed significantly to the discovery of new drugs, as illustrated by captopril, the first drug developed from an animal toxin approved for human use [...].
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Mani Indiana Funez
- School of Ceilândia, University of Brasília, Brasília 72220-275, FD, Brazil;
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28
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Futai E, Kawasaki H, Sato S, Daoudi K, Hidaka M, Tomita T, Ogawa T. A Metalloproteinase Cocktail from the Venom of Protobothrops flavoviridis Cleaves Amyloid Beta Peptides at the α-Cleavage Site. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:500. [PMID: 37624257 PMCID: PMC10467146 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15080500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) family proteins are a major class of membrane-anchored multidomain proteinases that are responsible for the shedding of cell surface protein ectodomains, including amyloid precursor protein (APP). Human ADAM 9, 10, and 17 proteolyze APPs and produce non-amyloid-genic p3 peptides, instead of neurotoxic amyloid-β peptides (Aβs; Aβ40 and Aβ42), which form fibrils and accumulate in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The ADAM family is closely related to snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs), which are derived from ancestral ADAMs but act as soluble proteinases. To test the therapeutic potential of SVMPs, we purified SVMPs from Protobothrops flavoviridis venom using metal ion affinity and pooled into a cocktail. Thus, 9 out of 11 SVMPs in the P. flavoviridis genome were identified in the cocktail. SVMPs inhibited Aβ secretion when added to human cell culture medium without affecting APP proteolysis. SVMPs degraded synthetic Aβ40 and Aβ42 peptides at the same cleavage site (α-site of APP) as ADAM9, 10, and 17. SVMPs did not degrade Aβ fibrils but interfered with their formation, assessed using thioflavin-T. Thus, SVMPs have therapeutic potential for AD as an Aβ-degrading protease, and the finding adds to the discovery of bioactive peptides from venoms as novel therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene Futai
- Laboratory of Enzymology, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan; (H.K.); (K.D.); (M.H.); (T.O.)
| | - Hajime Kawasaki
- Laboratory of Enzymology, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan; (H.K.); (K.D.); (M.H.); (T.O.)
| | - Shinichi Sato
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan;
| | - Khadija Daoudi
- Laboratory of Enzymology, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan; (H.K.); (K.D.); (M.H.); (T.O.)
| | - Masafumi Hidaka
- Laboratory of Enzymology, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan; (H.K.); (K.D.); (M.H.); (T.O.)
| | - Taisuke Tomita
- Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan;
| | - Tomohisa Ogawa
- Laboratory of Enzymology, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan; (H.K.); (K.D.); (M.H.); (T.O.)
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29
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Ferreira I, Oliveira I, Bordon K, Reis M, Wiezel G, Sanchez C, Santos L, Santos-Filho N, Pucca M, Antunes L, Lopes D, Arantes E. Beyond Angiogenesis: The Multitasking Approach of the First PEGylated Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ( CdtVEGF) from Brazilian Rattlesnake Venom. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:483. [PMID: 37624240 PMCID: PMC10467076 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15080483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
A pioneering study regarding the isolation, biochemical evaluation, functional assays and first PEGylation report of a novel vascular endothelial growth factor from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom (CdtVEGF and PEG-CdtVEGF). CdtVEGF was isolated from crude venom using two different chromatographic steps, representing 2% of soluble venom proteins. Its primary sequence was determined using mass spectrometry analysis, and the molecule demonstrated no affinity to heparin. The Brazilian crotalid antivenom recognized CdtVEGF. Both native and PEGylated CdtVEGF were able to induce new vessel formation and migration, and to increase the metabolic activity of human umbilical endothelial vascular cells (HUVEC), resulting in better wound closure (~50% within 12 h) using the native form. CdtVEGF induced leukocyte recruitment to the peritoneal cavity in mice, with a predominance of neutrophil influx followed by lymphocytes, demonstrating the ability to activate the immune system. The molecule also induced a dose-dependent increase in vascular permeability, and PEG-CdtVEGF showed less in vivo inflammatory activity than CdtVEGF. By unraveling the intricate properties of minor components of snake venom like svVEGF, this study illuminates the indispensable significance of exploring these molecular tools to unveil physiological and pathological processes, elucidates the mechanisms of snakebite envenomings, and could possibly be used to design a therapeutic drug.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabela Ferreira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Isadora Oliveira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Karla Bordon
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Mouzarllem Reis
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Gisele Wiezel
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Caroline Sanchez
- Department of Clinical Analysis, Toxicology and Food Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Luísa Santos
- Institute Multidisciplinary in Health, Federal University of Bahia, Vitoria da Conquista 40110-909, BA, Brazil
| | - Norival Santos-Filho
- Department of Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry, Chemistry Institute, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara 14800-901, SP, Brazil
| | - Manuela Pucca
- Department of Clinical Analysis, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) Araraquara 14800-901, SP, Brazil
| | - Lusânia Antunes
- Department of Clinical Analysis, Toxicology and Food Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Daiana Lopes
- Institute Multidisciplinary in Health, Federal University of Bahia, Vitoria da Conquista 40110-909, BA, Brazil
| | - Eliane Arantes
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
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Ibrahim MAA, Abdeljawaad KAA, Abdelrahman AHM, Sidhom PA, Tawfeek AM, Mekhemer GAH, Abd El-Rahman MK, Dabbish E, Shoeib T. In-Silico Mining of the Toxins Database (T3DB) towards Hunting Prospective Candidates as ABCB1 Inhibitors: Integrated Molecular Docking and Lipid Bilayer-Enhanced Molecular Dynamics Study. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:1019. [PMID: 37513931 PMCID: PMC10384459 DOI: 10.3390/ph16071019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the most problematic issues in chemotherapeutic carcinoma therapy. The ABCB1 transporter, a drug efflux pump overexpressed in cancer cells, has been thoroughly investigated for its association with MDR. Thus, discovering ABCB1 inhibitors can reverse the MDR in cancer cells. In the current work, a molecular docking technique was utilized for hunting the most prospective ABCB1 inhibitors from the Toxin and Toxin-Target Database (T3DB). Based on the docking computations, the most promising T3DB compounds complexed with the ABCB1 transporter were subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations over 100 ns. Utilizing the MM-GBSA approach, the corresponding binding affinities were computed. Compared to ZQU (calc. -49.8 kcal/mol), Emamectin B1a (T3D1043), Emamectin B1b (T3D1044), Vincristine (T3D4016), Vinblastine (T3D4017), and Vindesine (T3D2479) complexed with ABCB1 transporter demonstrated outstanding binding affinities with ΔGbinding values of -93.0, -92.6, -93.8, -92.2, and -90.8 kcal/mol, respectively. The structural and energetic investigations confirmed the constancy of the identified T3DB compounds complexed with the ABCB1 transporter during the 100 ns MD course. To mimic the physiological conditions, MD simulations were conducted for those identified inhibitors complexed with ABCB1 transporter in the presence of a POPC membrane. These findings revealed that Emamectin B1a, Emamectin B1b, Vincristine, Vinblastine, and Vindesine are promising ABCB1 inhibitors that can reverse the MDR. Therefore, subjecting those compounds to further in-vitro and in-vivo investigations is worthwhile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahmoud A A Ibrahim
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt
- School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Khlood A A Abdeljawaad
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt
| | - Alaa H M Abdelrahman
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt
| | - Peter A Sidhom
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt
| | - Ahmed M Tawfeek
- Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Gamal A H Mekhemer
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt
| | - Mohamed K Abd El-Rahman
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Eslam Dabbish
- Department of Chemistry, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
| | - Tamer Shoeib
- Department of Chemistry, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
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Rashno Z, Rismani E, Ghasemi JB, Mansouri M, Shabani M, Afgar A, Dabiri S, Rezaei Makhouri F, Hatami A, Harandi MF. Design of ion channel blocking, toxin-like Kunitz inhibitor peptides from the tapeworm, Echinococcus granulosus, with potential anti-cancer activity. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11465. [PMID: 37454225 PMCID: PMC10349847 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38159-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Over-expression of K+ channels has been reported in human cancers and is associated with the poor prognosis of several malignancies. EAG1, a particular potassium ion channel, is widely expressed in the brain but poorly expressed in other normal tissues. Kunitz proteins are dominant in metazoan including the dog tapeworm, Echinococcus granulosus. Using computational analyses on one A-type potassium channel, EAG1, and in vitro cellular methods, including major cancer cell biomarkers expression, immunocytochemistry and whole-cell patch clamp, we demonstrated the anti-tumor activity of three synthetic small peptides derived from E. granulosus Kunitz4 protease inhibitors. Experiments showed induced significant apoptosis and inhibition of proliferation in both cancer cell lines via disruption in cell-cycle transition from the G0/G1 to S phase. Western blotting showed that the levels of cell cycle-related proteins including P27 and P53 were altered upon kunitz4-a and kunitz4-c treatment. Patch clamp analysis demonstrated a significant increase in spontaneous firing frequency in Purkinje neurons, and exposure to kunitz4-c was associated with an increase in the number of rebound action potentials after hyperpolarized current. This noteworthy component in nature could act as an ion channel blocker and is a potential candidate for cancer chemotherapy based on potassium channel blockage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zahra Rashno
- Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, 7616914115, Iran
| | - Elham Rismani
- Molecular Medicine Department, Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Jahan B Ghasemi
- Faculty of Chemistry, School of Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mehdi Mansouri
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
| | - Mohammad Shabani
- Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | - Ali Afgar
- Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, 7616914115, Iran
| | - Shahriar Dabiri
- Pathology and Stem Cell Research Center, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | | | - Abbas Hatami
- Pathology and Stem Cell Research Center, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | - Majid Fasihi Harandi
- Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, 7616914115, Iran.
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Singkham-In U, Thaveekarn W, Noiphrom J, Khow O, Ponwaranon S, Issara-Amphorn J, Sitprija V, Leelahavanichkul A. Hydrogen peroxide from L-amino acid oxidase of king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) venom attenuates Pseudomonas biofilms. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11304. [PMID: 37438396 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37914-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Because of the high incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms-related nosocomial infections, venoms from common Thai snakes were tested. Although venoms from king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah; OH) and green pit viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) showed the broadest antibacterial spectrum, OH venom demonstrated more profound anti-biofilm activities against P. aeruginosa. Additionally, purified L-amino acid oxidase from OH venom (OH-LAAO), using a three-step chromatography and protein identification, reduced biofilm mass as indicated by the downregulation of several genes, including the genes for biofilm synthesis (algD and pslB) and biofilm regulators (algU, gacA, and siaD). Moreover, OH-LAAO disrupted Pseudomonas-preformed biofilms via upregulation of several genes for biofilm dispersion (nbdA, bdlA, and dipA) and biofilm degradation (endA and pslG), resulting in a reduction of the biofilm biomass. Due to the antimicrobial effects and anti-biofilm activities (reduced production plus increased dispersion) neutralized by catalase, a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-degrading enzyme, the enhanced H2O2 by OH venom might be one of the anti-biofilm mechanisms. Hence, OH-LAAO was proposed as a novel agent against Pseudomonas biofilms for either treatment or prevention. More studies are interesting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uthaibhorn Singkham-In
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence in Translational Research in Inflammatory and Immunology (CETRII), Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Wichit Thaveekarn
- Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, 1871 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Jureeporn Noiphrom
- Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, 1871 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Orawan Khow
- Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, 1871 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Surada Ponwaranon
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence in Translational Research in Inflammatory and Immunology (CETRII), Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Jiraphorn Issara-Amphorn
- Functional Cellular Networks Section, Laboratory of Immune System Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Visith Sitprija
- Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, 1871 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Asada Leelahavanichkul
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
- Center of Excellence in Translational Research in Inflammatory and Immunology (CETRII), Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
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Veizaj D, den Exter PL, Bos MHA. Russell's viper venom: from diagnostic to bypassing agent for hemophilia? J Thromb Haemost 2023; 21:1429-1431. [PMID: 37179074 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtha.2023.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Dejvid Veizaj
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Einthoven Laboratory for Vascular and Regenerative Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Paul L den Exter
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Einthoven Laboratory for Vascular and Regenerative Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Mettine H A Bos
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Einthoven Laboratory for Vascular and Regenerative Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
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Ho TNT, Turner A, Pham SH, Nguyen HT, Nguyen LTT, Nguyen LT, Dang TT. Cysteine-rich peptides: From bioactivity to bioinsecticide applications. Toxicon 2023; 230:107173. [PMID: 37211058 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Greater levels of insect resistance and constraints on the use of current pesticides have recently led to increased crop losses in agricultural production. Further, the health and environmental impacts of pesticides now restrict their application. Biologics based on peptides are gaining popularity as efficient crop protection agents with low environmental toxicity. Cysteine-rich peptides (whether originated from venoms or plant defense substances) are chemically stable and effective as insecticides in agricultural applications. Cysteine-rich peptides fulfill the stability and efficacy requirements for commercial uses and provide an environmentally benign alternative to small-molecule insecticides. In this article, cysteine-rich insecticidal peptide classes identified from plants and venoms will be highlighted, focusing on their structural stability, bioactivity and production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thao N T Ho
- Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 1B TL29, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - A Turner
- Molecular Biology Department, University of Texas, 100 E 24th St. Austin, USA
| | - Son H Pham
- Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 1B TL29, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Ha T Nguyen
- National Key Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Materials, Department of Energy Materials, Faculty of Materials Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Linh T T Nguyen
- Department of Chemistry, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, 280 an Duong Vuong Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Luan T Nguyen
- National Key Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Materials, Department of Energy Materials, Faculty of Materials Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Tien T Dang
- Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 1B TL29, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
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Almeida JR, Gomes A, Mendes B, Aguiar L, Ferreira M, Brioschi MBC, Duarte D, Nogueira F, Cortes S, Salazar-Valenzuela D, Miguel DC, Teixeira C, Gameiro P, Gomes P. Unlocking the potential of snake venom-based molecules against the malaria, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis triad. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 242:124745. [PMID: 37150376 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Malaria, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are vector-borne protozoal infections with a disproportionately high impact on the most fragile societies in the world, and despite malaria-focused research gained momentum in the past two decades, both trypanosomiases and leishmaniases remain neglected tropical diseases. Affordable effective drugs remain the mainstay of tackling this burden, but toxicicty, inneficiency against later stage disease, and drug resistance issues are serious shortcomings. One strategy to overcome these hurdles is to get new therapeutics or inspiration in nature. Indeed, snake venoms have been recognized as valuable sources of biomacromolecules, like peptides and proteins, with antiprotozoal activity. This review highlights major snake venom components active against at least one of the three aforementioned diseases, which include phospholipases A2, metalloproteases, L-amino acid oxidases, lectins, and oligopeptides. The relevance of this repertoire of biomacromolecules and the bottlenecks in their clinical translation are discussed considering approaches that should increase the success rate in this arduous task. Overall, this review underlines how venom-derived biomacromolecules could lead to pioneering antiprotozoal treatments and how the drug landscape for neglected diseases may be revolutionized by a closer look at venoms. Further investigations on poorly studied venoms is needed and could add new therapeutics to the pipeline.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Rafael Almeida
- Biomolecules Discovery Group, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Tena 150150, Ecuador.
| | - Ana Gomes
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Bruno Mendes
- Biomolecules Discovery Group, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Tena 150150, Ecuador
| | - Luísa Aguiar
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Mariana Ferreira
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | | | - Denise Duarte
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-862, Brazil.
| | - Fátima Nogueira
- Global Health and Tropical Medicine, GHTM, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, UNL, Rua Junqueira 100, P-1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Sofia Cortes
- Global Health and Tropical Medicine, GHTM, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, UNL, Rua Junqueira 100, P-1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - David Salazar-Valenzuela
- Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático (BioCamb) e Ingeniería en Biodiversidad y Recursos Genéticos, Facultad de Ciencias de Medio Ambiente, Universidad Indoamérica, Quito 170103, Ecuador.
| | - Danilo C Miguel
- Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático (BioCamb) e Ingeniería en Biodiversidad y Recursos Genéticos, Facultad de Ciencias de Medio Ambiente, Universidad Indoamérica, Quito 170103, Ecuador.
| | - Cátia Teixeira
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Paula Gameiro
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Paula Gomes
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, P-4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
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Martins JG, de Castro Figueiredo Bordon K, Moreno-González JA, Almeida B, Pardal P, Lira A, Candido D, Arantes EC, Procópio R. On the noxious black Amazonian scorpion, Tityus obscurus (Scorpiones, Buthidae): Taxonomic notes, biology, medical importance and envenoming treatment. Toxicon 2023; 228:107125. [PMID: 37054995 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
Tityus obscurus has caused mild, moderate and severe accidents of medical relevance in the eastern Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana. Tityus obscurus has sexual dimorphism although males and females have uniform black coloration. In the Amazon, one of the habitats of this scorpion is seasonally flooded forests (igapós and várzeas). However, most stings occur in terra firme forest areas (non-flooded region), where most rural communities are located. Adults and children stung by T. obscurus may experience an "electric shock" sensation for more than 30 h after the sting. Our data shows that people inhabiting remote forest areas, including rubber tappers, fishermen and indigenous people, with no access to anti-scorpion serum, use parts of native plants, such as seeds and leaves, against pain and vomiting caused by scorpion stings. Although there is a technical effort to produce and distribute antivenoms in the Amazon, many cases of scorpion stings are geographically unpredictable in this region, due to the lack of detailed knowledge of the natural distribution of these animals. In this manuscript, we compile information on the natural history of T. obscurus and the impact of its envenoming on human health. We identify the natural sites that host this scorpion in the Amazon, in order to warn about the risk of human envenoming. The use of specific antivenom serum is the recommended treatment for accidents involving venomous animals. However, atypical symptoms not neutralized by the available commercial antivenom are reported in the Amazon region. Facing this scenario, we present some challenges to the study of venomous animals in the Amazon rainforest and possible experimental bottlenecks and perspectives for establishing a method aimed at producing an efficient antivenom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Gama Martins
- Pós-Graduação em Genética, Conservação e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, AM, Brazil.
| | - Karla de Castro Figueiredo Bordon
- Departamento de Ciências BioMoleculares, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Jairo A Moreno-González
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History New York, Central Park West at 79th Street, 10024-5192, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Bruno Almeida
- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará, Campus Itaituba, PA, Brazil
| | - Pedro Pardal
- Laboratório de Entomologia Médica e Animais Peçonhentos, Núcleo de Medicina Tropical, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Belém, PA, Brazil
| | - André Lira
- Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Centro de Educação e Saúde, Cuité, PB, Brazil
| | - Denise Candido
- Laboratório de Artrópodes, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Eliane Candiani Arantes
- Departamento de Ciências BioMoleculares, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Rudi Procópio
- Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia e Recursos Naturais da Amazônia, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA), Manaus, AM, Brazil
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Diniz-Sousa R, Silva CCA, Pereira SS, da Silva SL, Fernandes PA, Teixeira LMC, Zuliani JP, Soares AM. Therapeutic applications of snake venoms: An invaluable potential of new drug candidates. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 238:124357. [PMID: 37028634 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023]
Abstract
Animal venoms and their chemical compounds have aroused both empirical and scientific attention for ages. However, there has been a significant increase in scientific investigations in recent decades, allowing the production of various formulations that are helping in the development of many important tools for biotechnological, diagnostic, or therapeutic use, both in human and animal health, as well as in plants. Venoms are composed of biomolecules and inorganic compounds that may have physiological and pharmacological activities that are not related to their principal actions (prey immobilization, digestion, and defense). Snake venom toxins, mainly enzymatic and non-enzymatic proteins, and peptides have been identified as potential prototypes for new drugs and/or models for the development of pharmacologically active structural domains for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, pain, and infectious-parasitic diseases. This minireview aims to provide an overview of the biotechnological potential of animal venoms, with a focus on snakes, and to introduce the reader to the fascinating world of Applied Toxinology, where animal biodiversity can be used to develop therapeutic and diagnostic applications for humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafaela Diniz-Sousa
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Centro Universitário São Lucas (UniSL), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Cleópatra C A Silva
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Epidemiologia da Amazônia Ocidental (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Soraya S Pereira
- Laboratório de Engenharia de Anticorpos, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Saulo L da Silva
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Chemical Sciences, University of Cuenca, Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal
| | - Luís M C Teixeira
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal
| | - Juliana P Zuliani
- Laboratório de Imunologia Celular Aplicada à Saúde, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Andreimar M Soares
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Centro Universitário São Lucas (UniSL), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Epidemiologia da Amazônia Ocidental (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Faculdade Católica de Rondônia (FCR), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil.
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Groome JR. Historical Perspective of the Characterization of Conotoxins Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels. Mar Drugs 2023; 21:md21040209. [PMID: 37103349 PMCID: PMC10142487 DOI: 10.3390/md21040209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Marine toxins have potent actions on diverse sodium ion channels regulated by transmembrane voltage (voltage-gated ion channels) or by neurotransmitters (nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channels). Studies of these toxins have focused on varied aspects of venom peptides ranging from evolutionary relationships of predator and prey, biological actions on excitable tissues, potential application as pharmacological intervention in disease therapy, and as part of multiple experimental approaches towards an understanding of the atomistic characterization of ion channel structure. This review examines the historical perspective of the study of conotoxin peptides active on sodium channels gated by transmembrane voltage, which has led to recent advances in ion channel research made possible with the exploitation of the diversity of these marine toxins.
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Affiliation(s)
- James R Groome
- Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA
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Mackieh R, Al-Bakkar N, Kfoury M, Roufayel R, Sabatier JM, Fajloun Z. Inhibitors of ATP Synthase as New Antibacterial Candidates. Antibiotics (Basel) 2023; 12:antibiotics12040650. [PMID: 37107012 PMCID: PMC10135114 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12040650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023] Open
Abstract
ATP, the power of all cellular functions, is constantly used and produced by cells. The enzyme called ATP synthase is the energy factory in all cells, which produces ATP by adding inorganic phosphate (Pi) to ADP. It is found in the inner, thylakoid and plasma membranes of mitochondria, chloroplasts and bacteria, respectively. Bacterial ATP synthases have been the subject of multiple studies for decades, since they can be genetically manipulated. With the emergence of antibiotic resistance, many combinations of antibiotics with other compounds that enhance the effect of these antibiotics have been proposed as approaches to limit the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. ATP synthase inhibitors, such as resveratrol, venturicidin A, bedaquiline, tomatidine, piceatannol, oligomycin A and N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide were the starting point of these combinations. However, each of these inhibitors target ATP synthase differently, and their co-administration with antibiotics increases the susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria. After a brief description of the structure and function of ATP synthase, we aim in this review to highlight therapeutic applications of the major bacterial ATP synthase inhibitors, including animal’s venoms, and to emphasize their importance in decreasing the activity of this enzyme and subsequently eradicating resistant bacteria as ATP synthase is their source of energy.
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Lodato M, Plaisance V, Pawlowski V, Kwapich M, Barras A, Buissart E, Dalle S, Szunerits S, Vicogne J, Boukherroub R, Abderrahmani A. Venom Peptides, Polyphenols and Alkaloids: Are They the Next Antidiabetics That Will Preserve β-Cell Mass and Function in Type 2 Diabetes? Cells 2023; 12:cells12060940. [PMID: 36980281 PMCID: PMC10047094 DOI: 10.3390/cells12060940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Improvement of insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cells and preservation of their mass are the current challenges that future antidiabetic drugs should meet for achieving efficient and long-term glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The successful development of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) analogues, derived from the saliva of a lizard from the Helodermatidae family, has provided the proof of concept that antidiabetic drugs directly targeting pancreatic β-cells can emerge from venomous animals. The literature reporting on the antidiabetic effects of medicinal plants suggests that they contain some promising active substances such as polyphenols and alkaloids, which could be active as insulin secretagogues and β-cell protectors. In this review, we discuss the potential of several polyphenols, alkaloids and venom peptides from snake, frogs, scorpions and cone snails. These molecules could contribute to the development of new efficient antidiabetic medicines targeting β-cells, which would tackle the progression of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Lodato
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Valérie Plaisance
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Valérie Pawlowski
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Maxime Kwapich
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
- Service de Diabétologie et d’Endocrinologie, CH Dunkerque, 59385 Dunkirk, France
| | - Alexandre Barras
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Emeline Buissart
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Stéphane Dalle
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM, 34094 Montpellier, France
| | - Sabine Szunerits
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Jérôme Vicogne
- University Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, U1019-UMR 9017-CIIL-Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Rabah Boukherroub
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Amar Abderrahmani
- University Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520, IEMN, F-59000 Lille, France
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +33-362531704
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Ascoët S, Touchard A, Téné N, Lefranc B, Leprince J, Paquet F, Jouvensal L, Barassé V, Treilhou M, Billet A, Bonnafé E. The mechanism underlying toxicity of a venom peptide against insects reveals how ants are master at disrupting membranes. iScience 2023; 26:106157. [PMID: 36879819 PMCID: PMC9985030 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Hymenopterans represent one of the most abundant groups of venomous organisms but remain little explored due to the difficult access to their venom. The development of proteo-transcriptomic allowed us to explore diversity of their toxins offering interesting perspectives to identify new biological active peptides. This study focuses on U9 function, a linear, amphiphilic and polycationic peptide isolated from ant Tetramorium bicarinatum venom. It shares physicochemical properties with M-Tb1a, exhibiting cytotoxic effects through membrane permeabilization. In the present study, we conducted a comparative functional investigation of U9 and M-Tb1a and explored the mechanisms underlying their cytotoxicity against insect cells. After showing that both peptides induced the formation of pores in cell membrane, we demonstrated that U9 induced mitochondrial damage and, at high concentrations, localized into cells and induced caspase activation. This functional investigation highlighted an original mechanism of U9 questioning on potential valorization and endogen activity in T. bicarinatum venom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Ascoët
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
| | - Axel Touchard
- CNRS, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, INRA, Université de Guyane, Université des Antilles, Campus Agronomique, BP316 97310 Kourou, France
| | - Nathan Téné
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
| | - Benjamin Lefranc
- Inserm U1239, NorDiC, Laboratoire de Différenciation et Communication Neuroendocrine, Endocrine et Germinale, Université de Rouen-Normandie, 76000 Rouen, France
- Inserm US51, HeRacLeS, Université de Rouen-Normandie, 76000 Rouen, France
| | - Jérôme Leprince
- Inserm U1239, NorDiC, Laboratoire de Différenciation et Communication Neuroendocrine, Endocrine et Germinale, Université de Rouen-Normandie, 76000 Rouen, France
- Inserm US51, HeRacLeS, Université de Rouen-Normandie, 76000 Rouen, France
| | - Françoise Paquet
- Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS UPR 4301, Rue Charles Sadron CS-80054, 45071 Orléans, France
| | - Laurence Jouvensal
- Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS UPR 4301, Rue Charles Sadron CS-80054, 45071 Orléans, France
| | - Valentine Barassé
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
| | - Michel Treilhou
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
| | - Arnaud Billet
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
| | - Elsa Bonnafé
- BTSB-UR 7417, Université de Toulouse, Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France
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42
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Bialves TS, Bastos Junior CLQ, Cordeiro MF, Boyle RT. Snake venom, a potential treatment for melanoma. A systematic review. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 231:123367. [PMID: 36690229 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.123367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Despite advances in treating patients with melanoma, there are still many treatment challenges to overcome. Studies with snake venom-derived proteins/peptides describe their binding potential, and inhibition of some proliferative mechanisms in melanoma. The combined use of these compounds with current therapies could be the strategic gap that will help us discover more effective treatments for melanoma. The present study aimed to carry out a systematic review identifying snake venom proteins and peptides described in the literature with antitumor, antimetastatic, or antiangiogenic effects on melanoma and determine the mechanisms of action that lead to these anti-tumor effects. Snake venoms contain proteins and peptides which are antiaggregant, antimetastatic, and antiangiogenic. The in vivo results are encouraging, considering the reduction of metastases and tumor size after treatment. In addition to these results, it was reported that these venom compounds could act in combination with chemotherapeutics (Acurhagin-C; Macrovipecetin), sensitizing and preparing tumor cells for treatment. There is a consensus that snake venom is a promising strategy for the improvement of antimelanoma therapies, but it has been little explored in the current context, combined with inhibitors, immunotherapy or tumor microenvironment, for example. We suggest Lebein as a candidate for combination therapy with BRAF inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiane Senna Bialves
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas (PPGCF), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Av. Itália, s/n - km 8 - Carreiros, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
| | - Claudio L Q Bastos Junior
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas (PPGCF), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Av. Itália, s/n - km 8 - Carreiros, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Marcos Freitas Cordeiro
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biociências e Saúde (PPGBS), Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina - UNOESC, Rua Roberto Trompovski 224, Joaçaba, Santa Catarina, CEP 89600-000, Brazil.
| | - Robert Tew Boyle
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas (PPGCF), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Av. Itália, s/n - km 8 - Carreiros, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul 96203-900, Brazil
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43
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Sjakste N, Gajski G. A Review on Genotoxic and Genoprotective Effects of Biologically Active Compounds of Animal Origin. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:165. [PMID: 36828477 PMCID: PMC9961038 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15020165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Envenomation by animal venoms remains a serious medical and social problem, especially in tropical countries. On the other hand, animal venoms are widely used as a source of biologically active compounds for the development of novel drugs. Numerous derivatives of animal venoms are already used in clinical practice. When analysing the mechanisms of action of animal venoms, attention is usually focused on the main target of the venom's enzymes and peptides such as neurotoxic, cytotoxic or haemorrhagic effects. In the present review, we would like to draw attention to the "hidden" effects of animal venoms and their derivatives in regard to DNA damage and/or protection against DNA damage. Alkaloids and terpenoids isolated from sponges such as avarol, ingenamine G or variolin B manifest the capability to bind DNA in vitro and produce DNA breaks. Trabectidin, isolated from a sea squirt, also binds and damages DNA. A similar action is possible for peptides isolated from bee and wasp venoms such as mastoparan, melectin and melittin. However, DNA lesions produced by the crude venoms of jellyfish, scorpions, spiders and snakes arise as a consequence of cell membrane damage and the subsequent oxidative stress, whereas certain animal venoms or their components produce a genoprotective effect. Current research data point to the possibility of using animal venoms and their components in the development of various potential therapeutic agents; however, before their possible clinical use the route of injection, molecular target, mechanism of action, exact dosage, possible side effects and other fundamental parameters should be further investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolajs Sjakste
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, 1004 Riga, Latvia
- Genetics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Biology, University of Latvia, 1004 Riga, Latvia
| | - Goran Gajski
- Mutagenesis Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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Oliveira I, Ferreira I, Jacob B, Cardenas K, Cerni F, Baia-da-Silva D, Arantes E, Monteiro W, Pucca M. Harnessing the Power of Venomous Animal-Derived Toxins against COVID-19. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:159. [PMID: 36828473 PMCID: PMC9967918 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15020159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal-derived venoms are complex mixtures of toxins triggering important biological effects during envenomings. Although venom-derived toxins are known for their potential of causing harm to victims, toxins can also act as pharmacological agents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was observed an increase in in-depth studies on antiviral agents, and since, to date, there has been no completely effective drug against the global disease. This review explores the crosstalk of animal toxins and COVID-19, aiming to map potential therapeutic agents derived from venoms (e.g., bees, snakes, scorpions, etc.) targeting COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isadora Oliveira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Isabela Ferreira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Beatriz Jacob
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Kiara Cardenas
- Medical School, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
| | - Felipe Cerni
- Health Sciences Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
| | - Djane Baia-da-Silva
- Institute of Clinical Research Carlos Borborema, Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Tropical Medicine Foundation, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
- Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Amazonas State University, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
- Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus 69077-000, AM, Brazil
- Leônidas and Maria Deane Institute, Fiocruz Amazônia, Manaus 69057-070, AM, Brazil
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Nilton Lins University, Manaus 69058-040, AM, Brazil
| | - Eliane Arantes
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Wuelton Monteiro
- Institute of Clinical Research Carlos Borborema, Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Tropical Medicine Foundation, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
- Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Amazonas State University, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
| | - Manuela Pucca
- Medical School, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
- Health Sciences Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
- Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Amazonas State University, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
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45
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Mateos DL, Yarov-Yarovoy V. Structural modeling of peptide toxin-ion channel interactions using RosettaDock. Proteins 2023. [PMID: 36729043 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Voltage-gated ion channels play essential physiological roles in action potential generation and propagation. Peptidic toxins from animal venoms target ion channels and provide useful scaffolds for the rational design of novel channel modulators with enhanced potency and subtype selectivity. Despite recent progress in obtaining experimental structures of peptide toxin-ion channel complexes, structural determination of peptide toxins bound to ion channels in physiologically important states remains challenging. Here we describe an application of RosettaDock approach to the structural modeling of peptide toxins interactions with ion channels. We tested this approach on 10 structures of peptide toxin-ion channel complexes and demonstrated that it can sample near-native structures in all tested cases. Our approach will be useful for improving the understanding of the molecular mechanism of natural peptide toxin modulation of ion channel gating and for the structural modeling of novel peptide-based ion channel modulators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Lopez Mateos
- Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.,Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA
| | - Vladimir Yarov-Yarovoy
- Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.,Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.,Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA
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46
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Oliveira I, Costa V, Veras F, Ferreira I, Cunha F, Cunha T, Monteiro W, Arantes E, Pucca M. A Promising Biomolecule Able to Degrade Neutrophil Extracellular Traps: CdcPDE, a Rattlesnake Phosphodiesterase. Toxins (Basel) 2023; 15:44. [PMID: 36668864 PMCID: PMC9861997 DOI: 10.3390/toxins15010044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are an important mechanism for defense against pathogens. Their overproduction can be harmful since excessive NET formation promotes inflammation and tissue damage in several diseases. Nucleases are capable to degrade NET on basis of their DNA hydrolysis activity, including the CdcPDE, a nuclease isolated from Crotalus durissus collilineatus snake venom. Here, we report a new finding about CdcPDE activity, demonstrating its efficiency in degrading cell-free DNA from NETs, being a potential candidate to assist in therapies targeting inflammatory diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isadora Oliveira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Victor Costa
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Flávio Veras
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Isabela Ferreira
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Fernando Cunha
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Thiago Cunha
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Wuelton Monteiro
- School of Health Sciences, Amazonas State University, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
- Department of Teaching and Research, Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Tropical Medicine Foundation, Manaus 69850-000, AM, Brazil
| | - Eliane Arantes
- Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-903, SP, Brazil
| | - Manuela Pucca
- Medical School, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
- Health Sciences Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Roraima, Boa Vista 69310-000, RR, Brazil
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47
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Seifi R, Ayat H, Ahadi AM. Design and construction of a chimeric peptide, MeICT/IMe-AGAP, from two anti-cancer toxins of Iranian Mesobuthus eupeus scorpion. Mol Biol Res Commun 2023; 12:27-36. [PMID: 37201031 PMCID: PMC10186859 DOI: 10.22099/mbrc.2023.46450.1804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Scorpion venom contains various toxin peptides with pharmacological and biological properties. Scorpion toxins specifically interact with membrane ion channels which play key roles in progression of cancer. Therefore, scorpion toxins have received special attention for targeting cancer cells. Two new toxins MeICT and IMe-AGAP, isolated from Iranian yellow scorpion, Mesobuthus eupeus, interact specifically with chloride and sodium channels, respectively. Anti-cancer properties of MeICT and IMe-AGAP have been determined before, in addition they show 81 and 93% similarity with two well-known anti-cancer toxins, CTX and AGAP, respectively. The aim of this study was construction of a fusion peptide MeICT/IMe-AGAP to target different ion channels involved in cancer progression. Design and structure of the fusion peptide were investigated by bioinformatics studies. Two fragments encoding MeICT and IMe-AGAP were fused using overlapping primers by SOEing-PCR. MeICT/IMe-AGAP chimeric fragment was cloned into pET32Rh vector, expressed in Escherichia coli host and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The in silico studies showed that chimeric peptide with GPSPG linker preserved the three-dimensional structure of both peptides and can be functional. Due to the high expression of chloride and sodium channels in various cancer cells, MeICT/IMe-AGAP fusion peptide can be used as an effective agent to target both channels in cancers, simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hoda Ayat
- Corresponding Author: Department of Genetics, Shahrekord University, Rahbar Shahrekord, Iran. Tel: +98 38 32324401; Fax: +98 38 32324402; E.mail: And
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Halenova T, Udovychenko I, Artemenko O, Vovk T, Raksha N, Olexii S, Ostapchenko L. Modulation of platelet functions by European toad (Bufo Bufo) skin secretions components. Biomed Biotechnol Res J 2023. [DOI: 10.4103/bbrj.bbrj_362_22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
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Peter Muiruri K, Zhong J, Yao B, Lai R, Luo L. Bioactive peptides from scorpion venoms: therapeutic scaffolds and pharmacological tools. Chin J Nat Med 2023; 21:19-35. [PMID: 36641229 DOI: 10.1016/S1875-5364(23)60382-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Evolution and natural selection have endowed animal venoms, including scorpion venoms, with a wide range of pharmacological properties. Consequently, scorpions, their venoms, and/or their body parts have been used since time immemorial in traditional medicines, especially in Africa and Asia. With respect to their pharmacological potential, bioactive peptides from scorpion venoms have become an important source of scientific research. With the rapid increase in the characterization of various components from scorpion venoms, a large number of peptides are identified with an aim of combating a myriad of emerging global health problems. Moreover, some scorpion venom-derived peptides have been established as potential scaffolds helpful for drug development. In this review, we summarize the promising scorpion venoms-derived peptides as drug candidates. Accordingly, we highlight the data and knowledge needed for continuous characterization and development of additional natural peptides from scorpion venoms, as potential drugs that can treat related diseases.
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Silva L, Antunes A. Omics and Remote Homology Integration to Decipher Protein Functionality. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2627:61-81. [PMID: 36959442 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2974-1_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Abstract
In the recent years, several "omics" technologies based on specific biomolecules (from DNA, RNA, proteins, or metabolites) have won growing importance in the scientific field. Despite each omics possess their own laboratorial protocols, they share a background of bioinformatic tools for data integration and analysis. A recent subset of bioinformatic tools, based on available templates or remote homology protocols, allow computational fast and high-accuracy prediction of protein structures. The quickly predict of actually unsolved protein structures, together with late omics findings allow a boost of scientific advances in multiple fields such as cancer, longevity, immunity, mitochondrial function, toxicology, drug design, biosensors, and recombinant protein engineering. In this chapter, we assessed methodological approaches for the integration of omics and remote homology inferences to decipher protein functionality, opening the door to the next era of biological knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liliana Silva
- CIIMAR/CIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Agostinho Antunes
- CIIMAR/CIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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