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Effects of Lonomia obliqua caterpillar venom upon the proliferation and viability of cell lines

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Abstract

Many active principles produced by animals, plants and microorganisms have been employed in the development of new drugs for the treatment of human diseases. Among animals known to produce pharmacologically active molecules that interfere in human cell physiology, the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua has become the focus of toxicological studies due to recent findings about its venom constituents. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of L. obliqua venom upon the viability and the proliferation of different cell lineages and to propose mechanisms for the herein observed induction of cell proliferation in glioma cell lines. MTT analyses indicate that L. obliqua venom increases the viability of tumor cell lines U138-MG and HT-29; on the other hand, it inhibits the viability of V-79 nontumor cells. Cell count based on the trypan blue exclusion method suggests a proliferating activity of the venom upon U138-MG cells. Exposure of U138-MG to crude venom extract led to a decrease in the production of nitric oxide, and activation of the cAMP signaling pathway inhibited the effects of the venom, indicating that these mechanisms may influence cell proliferation triggered by the venom. Despite the proliferative effects of crude venom on U138-MG and HT-29 cell cultures, a protein purified from L. obliqua hemolymph previously shown to have cytoprotective activity had no effect on U138-MG and HT-29; however, this same protein increased the viability of V-79 cells that had previously been exposed to the cytotoxic activity of the crude venom extract. This study indicates that the venom and the antiapoptotic protein act differently and have different effects on cell cultures, depending on the cell line analyzed. Biomolecules displaying either mitogenic or cytotoxic activities are of great biotechnological interest. Further studies encompassing the purification of active principles from L. obliqua venom are necessary to further elucidate its effects on different cell types.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Brazilian agency CAPES (Ministry of Education) for the fellowship to T.E. Heinen. We thank the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA) and the University Hospital Research Center (HCPA) for encouragement and support. We express special thanks to Dr. R.Z. Mendonça for kindly providing the antiapoptotic protein isolated from L. obliqua hemolymph. Last, but not least, this study would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Fire Department of the city of Erechim (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) and the Municipal Sanitary Surveillance Division of the city of Videira (Santa Catarina, Brazil), that provided the L. obliqua specimens used.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Rua Sarmento Leite 245, Porto Alegre, RS, 90050-170, Brazil

    Tiago Elias Heinen

  2. Laboratório de Pesquisas em Câncer, Instituto do Câncer Infantil, Unidade de Oncologia. Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2350, Porto Alegre, RS, 90035-903, Brazil

    Tiago Elias Heinen, Caroline Brunetto de Farias, Ana Lucia Abujamra & Rafael Roesler

  3. Laboratório de Parasitologia, Instituto Butantan, Av. Vital Brasil 1500, São Paulo, SP, 05503-900, Brazil

    Ronaldo Zucatelli Mendonça

  4. Laboratório de Neurofarmacologia e Biologia de Tumores Neurais, Departamento de Farmacologia, ICBS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Sarmento Leite, 500, Porto Alegre, RS, 90050-170, Brazil

    Rafael Roesler

  5. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Patologia, Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Núcleo de Inovação Tecnológica em Saúde (NIT-Saúde), UFCSPA, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Ana Beatriz Gorini da Veiga

Authors
  1. Tiago Elias Heinen
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  2. Caroline Brunetto de Farias
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  3. Ana Lucia Abujamra
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  4. Ronaldo Zucatelli Mendonça
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  5. Rafael Roesler
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  6. Ana Beatriz Gorini da Veiga
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Correspondence to Ana Beatriz Gorini da Veiga.

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Heinen, T.E., de Farias, C.B., Abujamra, A.L. et al. Effects of Lonomia obliqua caterpillar venom upon the proliferation and viability of cell lines. Cytotechnology 66, 63–74 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-013-9537-7

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