Snake Venom Toxin Inhibits Human Prostate Cancer Cell Growth

Filed in archive Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics on April 16, 2007

A study published in a recent issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics report on the effectiveness of the snake venom toxin (SVT) Vipera lebetina turanica in the inhibition of androgen-independent prostate cancer (AICAP).

The molecular focus of this report was on nuclear factor ΚB (NF- ΚB), an anti-apoptotic transcriptional factor that is constitutively activated in AICAP cell lines. The scientists showed that SVT inhibited growth of AICAP cells lines PC-3 and DU145 with IC50's of 1.7 and 1.8ug/mL, respectively. This exceeded the IC50 in LNCaP, androgen-sensitive cells (9.1ug/mL). With increasing concentrations of SVT, the number of cells distributed in the S phase of the cell cycle decreased significantly compare with cells in other phases.

According to the results of the study, a nanogram concentration range of SVT appears to inhibit the growth of AICAP through the NF-{kappa}B signal-mediated induction of cell death.

Photo: Macrovipera lebetina turanica, Wikipedia