Antiproliferative effects of lectins from Canavalia ensiformis and Canavalia brasiliensis in human leukemia cell lines

Abstract

The antiproliferative activity of lectins Canavalia ensiformis (ConA) and Canavalia brasiliensis (ConBr) were studied using human leukemia MOLT-4 and HL-60 cell lines. It was revealed that both ConA and ConBr were markedly cytotoxic to cells using MTT and NAC assays. The IC(50) values were approximately 3 and 20 μg/mL for ConA and ConBr, respectively, for both MOLT-4 and HL-60 cells. However, in normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes, the lectins were not cytotoxic, even when tested at concentrations as high as 200 μg/ml. Using comet assay, the lectins produced a rate of DNA damage exceeding 80% in MOLT-4 and HL-60 cells. Fluorescence analysis revealed the morphology characteristic of apoptosis, with low concentrations of apoptotic bodies and fragmented DNA (5 μg/ml). Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated an accumulation of cells in the sub-G1 cell cycle that is characteristic of DNA fragmentation, and a decrease in membrane integrity at high concentrations. Lastly, we evaluated the alterations in mitochondrial potential that reduced after treatment with lectins. Our results indicate that ConA and ConBr inhibited cell proliferation selectively in tumor cells and that apoptosis was the main death mechanism. Therefore, lectins can be considered a class of molecules with a high antitumor activity potential.

Antitumor effects of concanavalin A and Sophora flavescens lectin in vitro and in vivo

“…Previous studies reported that ConA induced apoptosis in human melanoma A375 cells and murine macrophage PU5-1.8 cells. Moreover, ConA induced autophagic cell death in HeLa cells [5][6][7] . Therefore, ConA bears notable www.chinaphar.com Shi Z et al Acta Pharmacologica Sinica npg apoptosis-and autophagy-inducing properties, which make it a potential anti-neoplastic agent for future cancer therapeutics.…”

Distinct effects of novel naphtoquinone-based triazoles in human leukaemic cell lines

“…As our results showed an increased production of ROS in HL‐60 cells, when treated with the triazoles derivatives (Figure ), can explain, at least in part, the apoptotic cell death of this cell line. Indeed, the apoptotic effect of many chemical agents in cancer cell lines has been shown by various authors to be related to increasing of ROS production [30–32]. Additionally, it was reported that ROS selectively induce cancer cells death [33–35].…”

Morita-Baylis-Hillman Adducts Display Anti-Inflammatory Effects by Modulating Inflammatory Mediator Expression in RAW264.7 Cells

“…After 24 h of incubation, plates were centrifuged (500 ×g, 5 min) and the supernatant was removed, followed by the addition of MTT solution (0.5 mg/mL in PBS) and incubation for 4 hours at 37°C. After 4 hours, the MTT formazan product was dissolved in SDS/HCl 0.01 N and absorbance was measured at 570 nm in reader plate ELISA (BioTek ELx800, USA) [24]. …”