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Venom from the scorpion Heterometrus liangi inhibits HeLa cell proliferation by inducing p21 expression

Juan Wang,Yuande Peng,Zhi Wang,X. Chai,Z. Lv,Q. Song

Published 2018 in Biologia

ABSTRACT

Scorpion venoms are important sources for identifying and developing promising biomolecules for cancer treatment. To search for promising biomolecules for cancer research, the effects of crude venom from the scorpion Heterometrus liangi (HLSN) on the proliferation, apoptosis and underline molecular mechanisms of HeLa cells were investigated and compared with that of Buthus martensii (BMK). RT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemical staining were used to evaluate the expression levels of p21 in the control and treated cells. The present data showed that when HeLa cells were exposed to HLSN venom for 24 and 48 h, the venom inhibited HeLa cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner as determined by the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, caused marked morphological changes as revealed by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and induced apoptosis as shown by flow cytometry (FCM). Western blot and RT-PCR analysis revealed that the expression of p21 protein was upregulated at both transcriptional and translational levels, as supported by immunohistochemical staining. Therefore, HLSN crude venom, similar to BMK venom, inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in HeLa cells via the induction of p21 expression while it has little adverse effect on non cancer human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC-21) cells.

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