Determination of anti-cancer and antioxidant properties of protein extracts obtained from aquatic Helophorus (Coleoptera: Helophoridae) insects

Abstract

In this study, protein extraction was performed from the aquatic insect Helophorus aquaticus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Helophorus syriacus (Kuwert, 1885) species belonging to the genus Helophorus (Coleoptera: Helophoridae). Then, these protein extracts were studied in vitro. These species were collected from the shallow parts of various streams, springs, creeks, ponds and hot springs from Bingöl city centre and its districts between May to June 2017. The protein amount was determined 34.78 mg/mL in the H. aquaticus and 35.14 mg/mL in the H. syriacus, after that he antioxidant capacity of protein extracts was examined. Metal chelating activity was determined as 90-88.5% and DPPH removal activity 53.19-61.7% for H. aquaticus and H. syriacus respectively. Protein samples belonging to both species were tested for cell vitality with WST-1 in PC-3 (prostate cancer) cells with in vitro cell culture. Upon examination of the test results, it has been found out that protein extracts from both of the studied species caused a decrease in cell inhibition. The highest cell inhibition was observed in samples with 1000 μg/mL insect protein extract added. In this study, protein expression providing apoptosis was examined with the Western blot technique after the effective dose was established. By looking at the proteins of Cyt-C and Caspase 3 with the Western blot technique, the efficacy of the protein extracts from both species was demonstrated effectively for the in vitro PC-3 line in non-apoptosis cell death. As a result of the study, insect proteins were shown to support the production of proteins that ensure cell death with the western blot technique.

Revisiting edible insects as sources of therapeutics and drug delivery systems for cancer therapy

“…In vitro studies on the prostate cancer cell line PC-3 indicated the antioxidant and anticancer activities of protein extracts of Helophorus aquaticus and Helophorus syriacus. The protein extracts of both insects showed high efficacy in cell inhibition and produced significant apoptosis at a dose 1,000 μg/mL (Elhazar et al, 2023). Several studies have reported the anti-neoplastic activity of extracts of Periplaneta americana which belongs to order Dictyoptera and family Blattidae (Zhao et al, 2017).…”