부산대학교 도서관

Cancer is the most common cause of human death worldwide. Anticancer therapies, like chemotherapy and radiation, are associated with severe side effects and toxicities. A growing number of studies have shown that some of the cationic peptides, exhibit a broad spectrum of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. According to the literature, in this in vitro study, we evaluated the tumoricid potential of magainine II, cecropine A and B, dermaseptin, defensins and cathelicidins on tumor cell lines: MDA-MB-231 (breast adenocarcinoma) and M14K (human mesothelioma). We analyzed the effects of these cationic peptides on cell viability, cytotoxicity and proliferation cells from the tumor cell lines. The viability study was performed using Annexin and 7-AAD (7-amino-actinomycin D). These test was used to detect and measure apoptosis by flow cytometry technique. They act on many locations of membrane ion channels, transporters, receptors, enzymes and other systems that are involved in cellular signaling pathways. Most of the these peptides are cytolytic and can destroy membrane integrity with loss of cellular content to cell destruction. The experimental results of our study revealed that the cytotoxic effects of the peptides depend on their concentration. Their efficiency is significant at 120μM concentrations and it persists even at 60μM concentrations. The effects were insignificant at 30μM concentrations. On the other hand, the cytotoxic potential was not significantly dependant on the type of peptide but more on the type of tumour cell line used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]