Anti-cancer effect of bee venom on human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells using Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

We demonstrated the apoptotic effect of bee venom (BV) on human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells using Raman spectroscopy and principal component analysis (PCA). Biochemical changes in cancer cells were monitored following BV treatment; the results for different concentrations and treatment durations differed markedly. Significantly decreased Raman vibrations for DNA and proteins were observed for cells treated with 3.0 µg/mL BV for 48 h compared with those of control cells. These results suggest denaturation and degradation of proteins and DNA fragmentation (all cell death-related processes). The Raman spectroscopy results agreed with those of atomic force microscopy and conventional biological tests such as viability, TUNEL, and western blot assays. Therefore, Raman spectroscopy, with PCA, provides a noninvasive, label-free tool for assessment of cellular changes on the anti-cancer effect of BV.

Honeybee venom and melittin suppress growth factor receptor activation in HER2-enriched and triple-negative breast cancer

“…Similar interactions have been demonstrated between melittin and plasma-treated phosphate-buffered saline in MCF7 breast cancer and melanoma cells 19 . Honeybee venom and melittin also induced apoptosis in MCF7 cells 20 , and reduced cell viability and migration in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells 21,22 . Honeybee venom reduced metastases of breast cancer to the lung 23 , inhibited tumor growth, and prolonged survival in mice with spontaneous mammary carcinoma tumors 24 .…”

Clinical Applications of Bee Venom Acupoint Injection

“…In addition, BV intervened in calcium fluctuation, ROS generation, and the release of AIFs and EndoG in human melanoma cells [ 104 ]. In MDA-MB-231 breast cancer, Raman spectroscopy with multivariate analysis proved the effect of nuclear fragmentation and protein degradation at different concentrations [ 105 ]. In summary, with appropriate usage, BV may become a promising antineoplastic drug.…”

Raman spectrum spectral imaging revealing the molecular mechanism of Berberine-induced Jurkat cell apoptosis and the receptor-mediated Berberine delivery system

“…Micro-Raman spectroscopy (Invia, Renishaw, UK) equipped with an inverted microscope was employed to achieve Raman spectral information of individual Jurkat cell, in which a He-Ne laser with the wavelength of 633nm and maximum output power of 50mw was utilized, a microscope objective with the magnification of 50 × and the corresponding laser spot size on each cell was about 1μm in lateral direction and 2 μm in longitudinal direction. The spectral resolution was 0.99cm −1 , due to most of the vibrational spectra of cell biochemical components, such as nucleic acids, lipid, protein, appeared in a fingerprint region of 600 to 1800 cm −1 , based on previous studies [15,16,18,19] and aiming at the main biochemical changes of drug-induced Jurkat cell apoptosis, we only presented and analyzed these Raman peaks in the region of 600 to1800 cm −1 . For each group samples, more than 20 cells were randomly selected, and for each cell, more than three different areas were selected for spectral measurement; for each Raman spectrum, the exposure time was 10s and the accumulated times is set as three.…”

“…Clearly, there were obvious spectral differences between the drugtreated cells and the control group, these peaks at 728, 786, 1092, 1450, 1660cm −1 in the drugtreated cells were lower in intensity than those in the control group while the peaks at 938 and 980cm −1 in the drug-treated cells were higher than those in the control group. And the interpretation of the Raman data was compared with Table 1, a summary from other studies [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]30,31], in which the intensity decreasing of these peaks at 728, 786 and 1092cm −1 , respectively attributed to the breathing vibrational mode of adenine A, O-P-O stretching vibration of DNA backbone and O-P = O vibration of DNA backbone, revealed that drugs had acted on nucleic acids by destroying the structure of phosphodiester bond of DNA skeleton, breaking the phosphate backbone and inhibiting the synthesis of base pairs. The intensity decreasing of these two peaks at 1003 and 1660cm −1 , respectively attributed to the breathing vibrational mode of phenylalanine and amide I of protein, reflected that DNA structure was destroyed and the synthesis was inhibited, and the translation and transcriptional procedure of protein were suppressed, thus the content of protein was decreased.…”

“…1), also reveal anti-tumor effects [9][10][11][12], but the corresponding mechanism remains unclear, and the corresponding biochemical changes of BBR, JTZ and PMT-induced cell apoptosis and their distribution information in single cell are still scarce. Based on the measurement of the vibration mode of intrinsic molecular bond, Raman spectrum can provide rich bimolecular composition and structural conformation information of single living cell [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Moreover, due to several specific advantages, such as noninvasive, label-free and real-time, Raman spectrum has been a good candidate for the identification, physical separation and enrichment of living cells [19][20][21], along with the development of imaging devices, Raman spectral imaging is becoming a potential technique for long-time visualization of biomolecules and drug delivery on single living cell [22][23][24][25].…”