The effect of sea anemone (H. magnifica) venom on two human breast cancer lines: death by apoptosis

Abstract

Venom from the sea anemone, Heteractis magnifica, has multiple biological effects including, cytotoxic, cytolytic and hemolytic activities. In this study, cytotoxicity induced by H. magnifica venom was investigated using the crystal violet assay on human breast cancer T47D and MCF7 cell lines and normal human breast 184B5 cell line. Apoptosis was also assayed via Annexin V-flourescein isothiocyanate and propidium iodide (PI) staining followed by flow cytometric analysis. Cell cycle progression and mitochondria membrane potential were studied via flow cytometry following PI and JC-1 staining respectively. H. magnifica venom induced significant reductions in viable cell numbers and increases in apoptosis in T47D and MCF7 in dose-dependent manners. A significant apoptosisrelated increase in the sub G1 peak of the cell cycle in both breast cancer cell lines was also observed. Moreover, treatment by venom cleaved caspase-8, caspase-9, and activated caspase-3. Overall, H. magnifica venom was highly cytotoxic to T47D and MCF7 human breast cancer cells, and the phenomenon could be the killing phenomenon via the death receptor-mediated and the mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathways. Consequently, H. magnifica venom has potential for the development of a breast cancer therapeutic.

Marine bioactive products as anti-cancer agents: effects of sea anemone venom on breast and lung cancer cells

“…Our previous work demonstrated that H. Magnifica venom induced apoptosis by loss ofmitochondrial membrane potentialof human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells [13] . These findings are consistent with our previous study on T47D and MCF7 cell lines that the venom significantly increased the percentage of cells positive for JC-1 monomers [12] .…”

“…In contrast, H. magnifica venom applied to human breast cancer T47D and MCF7 cells was found to induce cell cycle arrest in sub G1 phase with a concomitant decrease in the G1 phase, indicating induction of apoptosis [12] . This discrepancy might be due to the difference in cell type analysed.…”

“…Recently, we reported that venom from H.magnifica was able to induced cell death by activation of the caspase pathway. H. magnifica venom significantly increased the levels of caspase 3/7, enzyme activity in A549, T47D and MCF7 cell lines (Figure 2) [12,13] . It has been reported that MCF7 cells do not show an increase in the sub-G1 in response to anti-cancer drug treatment [25] and also did not express detectable level of caspase 3 [26] .…”

“…Studies of hemolytic activities [4,5] immunomodulating activities [6,7] , neurotoxic [8] , cardiotoxic [9] and cytolytic tests [3,10,11] have all produced interesting outcomes. Some recent observations of the venom from the sea anemone Heteractis magnifica, have shown that it can induce apoptosis in human breast and lung cancer cell lines [12,13] . Cell cycle deregulation is an important feature of many cancers and therefore control of cell cycle progression is suggested to be an effective strategy to inhibit cancer growth [14] .…”

“…It has been reported that MCF7 cells do not show an increase in the sub-G1 in response to anti-cancer drug treatment [25] and also did not express detectable level of caspase 3 [26] . H. magnifica venom however, could interfere with the cell cycle at the sub G1 phase, induce apoptosis and increase the activation of caspase 3/7 [12] .…”