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Macrovipera lebetina obtusa Snake Venom as a Modulator of Antitumor Effect in S-180 Sarcoma Mouse Model

  • MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
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Abstract

Macrovipera lebetina obtusa (MLO) is a venomous snake endemic to Middle East. Here we describe the therapeutic potential of the MLO snake venom. In S-180 sarcoma-bearing mouse model, we showed that the MLO snake venom inhibits tumour growth by 50%. In human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-D), treatment with the MLO snake venom lead to an increase of expression levels of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), while the level of the expression of caspase 8 did not change. In HMVEC-D cells MLO snake venom induces necroptosis, rather than apoptosis. In the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, exposure to MLO snake venom inhibited bFGF-induced angiogenesis by 22%. Taken together, these results indicate that the MLO snake venom has a potent cytotoxic activity. Regulated necroptic cell death pathway, which is engaged by MLO snake venom, may become a promising novel target for antitumor therapies.

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Funding

This work was made possible by the research grant no. NS-biochem-2218 from the Armenian National Science and Education Fund (ANSEF) based in New York and State Committee of Science from Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia no. 19YR-1F012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Toxinology and Molecular Systematics, Institute of Physiology, 0028, Yerevan, Armenia

    N. Ghazaryan & N. Ayvazyan

  2. Oncophysiology Group, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, 37075, Göttingen, Germany

    N. Ghazaryan, N. Movsisyan & L. Pardo

  3. Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences, 37075, Göttingen, Germany

    N. Movsisyan

  4. Aging and Aneuploidy Laboratory, Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde – i3S, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal

    J. C. Macedo, S. Vaz & E. Logarinho

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  1. N. Ghazaryan
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  2. N. Movsisyan
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The text was submitted by the author(s) in English.

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Correspondence to N. Ghazaryan.

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Ghazaryan, N., Movsisyan, N., Macedo, J.C. et al. Macrovipera lebetina obtusa Snake Venom as a Modulator of Antitumor Effect in S-180 Sarcoma Mouse Model. Mol Biol 55, 405–412 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026893321020217

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