Scorpion Venom: New Promise in the Treatment of Cancer

Rave, Lyz Jenny Gómez; Bravo, Adriana Ximena Muñoz; Castrillo, Jhoalmis Sierra; Marin, Laura; Pereira, Carlos Corredor

doi:10.15446/abc.v24n2.71512

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Such enhanced activity of drug-loaded phytosomes compared with the pure drug have previously been reported with QRT, and could be due to improved intracellular bioavailability [ 47 ]. In addition, the incorporation of SV into the novel formulation has also contributed to the improved cytotoxicity of QRT [ 49 , 50 , 51 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scorpion Venom-Functionalized Quercetin Phytosomes for Breast Cancer Management: In Vitro Response Surface Optimization and Anticancer Activity against MCF-7 Cells

et al. 2021

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Breast cancer is a dangerous type of cancer in women. Quercetin (QRT), a naturally occurring flavonoid, has wide biological effects including antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, and antiviral activities. The anticancer activity is considered the most valuable effect of QRT against several types of cancer, including prostate, liver, lung, colon, and breast cancer. Scorpion venom peptides (SV) has been found to induce apoptosis and aggravate cancer cells, making it a promising anticancer agent. QRT, SV, and Phospholipon® 90H (PL) were incorporated in a nano-based delivery platform to assess QRT’s cellular uptake and antiproliferative efficacy against a lung cancer cell line derived from human breast cancer cells MCF-7. Several nanovesicles were prepared and optimized, using four-factor Box–Behnken, in an experimental design. The optimized phytosomes showed vesicle size and zeta potential values of 116.9 nm and 31.5 mV, respectively. The IC50 values revealed that MCF-7 cells were significantly more sensitive to the optimized QRT formula than the plain formula and raw QRT. Cell cycle analysis revealed that optimized QRT formula treatment resulted in significant cell cycle arrest at the S phase. The results also indicated that treatment with QRT formula significantly increased caspase-9, Bax, Bcl-2, and p53 mRNA expression, compared with the plain formula and QRT. In terms of the inflammatory markers, the QRT formula significantly reduced the activity of TNF-α and NF-κB, in comparison with the plain formula and QRT only. Overall, the findings from the study proved that a QRT formulation could be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of breast cancer.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scorpion Venom-Functionalized Quercetin Phytosomes for Breast Cancer Management: In Vitro Response Surface Optimization and Anticancer Activity against MCF-7 Cells

et al. 2021

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“…It also exhibited the advantage of being able to penetrate deep into tumor tissue [217,218]. Since the discovery of CTx, the list of scorpion crude venoms and isolated toxins with anticancer activity has been growing rapidly, hence a comprehensive review of all reported compounds exceeds the scope of this review, but can be found elsewhere [216][217][218][219]. Here, we present a few cherry-picked recent studies with the most significant findings.…”

Section: Anticancer Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CTx was the first scorpion-derived agent that demonstrated inhibitory effects on glioma cell migration and invasion. It also exhibited the advantage of being able to penetrate deep into tumor tissue [217,218]. Since the discovery of CTx, the list of scorpion crude venoms and isolated toxins with anticancer activity has been growing rapidly, hence a comprehensive review of all reported compounds exceeds the scope of this review, but can be found elsewhere [216][217][218][219].…”

Section: Anticancer Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scorpion Venom: Detriments and Benefits

et al. 2020

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Scorpion venom may cause severe medical complications and untimely death if injected into the human body. Neurotoxins are the main components of scorpion venom that are known to be responsible for the pathological manifestations of envenoming. Besides neurotoxins, a wide range of other bioactive molecules can be found in scorpion venoms. Advances in separation, characterization, and biotechnological approaches have enabled not only the development of more effective treatments against scorpion envenomings, but have also led to the discovery of several scorpion venom peptides with interesting therapeutic properties. Thus, scorpion venom may not only be a medical threat to human health, but could prove to be a valuable source of bioactive molecules that may serve as leads for the development of new therapies against current and emerging diseases. This review presents both the detrimental and beneficial properties of scorpion venom toxins and discusses the newest advances within the development of novel therapies against scorpion envenoming and the therapeutic perspectives for scorpion toxins in drug discovery.

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“…that possess significant anticancer potential [14]. SV peptides have been previously reported to induce apoptosis, inhibit proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and immunomodulatory effect in different types of cancers [14]. However, peptides suffer from the limitation of adequate stability, thermal degradation, fast metabolism, and a very short half-life [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conjugation of bisphosphonates with scorpion venom enhanced apoptotic activities in pancreatic cancer cells

Alhakamy

Al-Rabia

Rizg

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background: In recent times, prevalence and the incidence of pancreatic cancer (PC) have increased exponentially. Among of the major issues of PC are the asymptotic manifestation that delays diagnosis, and scarcity of therapeutic means. Methodology: To provide an effective therapeutic approach, current study was executed, in which an optimized alendronate sodium (ALS) and scorpion venom (SV) nanoconjugate (ALS-SV nanoconjugate) was selected via experimental design applying size and zeta potential as the selected factors. Additionally, efficacy against PANC1 cells was determined by analysis of IC50, cell cycle, annexin V staining, Bcl-2, Bax, p53, etc. Results: The particle size of the optimized nanoconjugate was found to be 28.4 ± 1.2 nm and the zeta potential to be +26.2 ± 0.8 mV. The cytotoxicity in terms of IC50 ALS-SV nanoconjugate was found better (2.73 ± 0.2 µg/mL) than ALS alone (22.3 ± 0.2 µg/mL) and SV alone (6.23 ± 0.4 µg/mL). Besides, outcomes of cell cycle analysis exhibited maximum efficacy for nanoconjugate in the G2-M phase. Annexin V staining, Bax, Bcl-2, p53, and caspase 3 estimation also showed superior apoptotic activity for ALS-SV nanoconjugate. However, as compared to ALS alone and SV alone, nanoconjugate showed elevated expression levels of TNF-α. The apoptotic activity was enhanced by the ALS-SV nanoconjugate as confirmed by MMP analysis. Conclusion: Accordingly, the current study revealed an enhancement in the anti-PC effects of the ALS-SV nanoconjugate that is considered as a novel approach against PC.

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Scorpion Venom: New Promise in the Treatment of Cancer

Cited by 13 publications

References 71 publications

Scorpion Venom-Functionalized Quercetin Phytosomes for Breast Cancer Management: In Vitro Response Surface Optimization and Anticancer Activity against MCF-7 Cells

Scorpion Venom-Functionalized Quercetin Phytosomes for Breast Cancer Management: In Vitro Response Surface Optimization and Anticancer Activity against MCF-7 Cells

Scorpion Venom: Detriments and Benefits

Conjugation of bisphosphonates with scorpion venom enhanced apoptotic activities in pancreatic cancer cells

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