Abstract
Anticancer peptides (ACPs) are biologically anticancer active molecules that are produced by mammals, plants, insects and microorganisms. Here, a new peptide (TC22) with the amino acid sequence MTVVLLLIVLPLLGGVHSSGIL was identified and characterized from the beetle Tribolium castaneum. We found it inhibited the growth and viability of HeLa and MCF-7 cells. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated the TC22 induced HeLa cell apoptosis, and activated caspase-9 and caspase-3. Furthermore, TC22 led to ROS generation, and triggered p53 transcription and expression. Taken together, our results indicated that TC22 exhibited high anticancer capacity via activating p53, inducing ROS generation and through a mitochondrial pathway. This research provided a novel natural source peptide with strong anticancer capacity. These findings provide some novel insights on the potential candidate reagent in cancer treatment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Research Fund for the Qingdao applied basic research project (16-5-1-53-jch), the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 31502044), the Priority Academic Talent Team Cultivation Program of the colleges and universities in Shandong Province, and the Doctoral Program of Qingdao Agriculture University (No. 663/1115001).
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XL and HS conceived and designed the experiments. XL, FZ, ZQ performed the experiments. XL and FZ analyzed the data. XL wrote the manuscript. Other authors provided editorial advices.
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Liu, Xd., Zhang, Fx., Qin, Zh. et al. Isolation and antiproliferation of tumor cells by a novel peptide (TC22) from the beetle Tribolium castaneum. Amino Acids 51, 311–318 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-018-2666-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-018-2666-8