Venom of the desert black snake Walterinnesia aegyptia enhances anti-tumor immunity via its beneficial modulatory effects on pro- and anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators in cultured colon cancer cells

Maha H Daghestani; Khushboo Ambreen; Hana H Hakami; Mohammed A Omair; Abdulaziz M Saleem; Nadia A Aleisa; Lina M AlNeghery; Mohannad H Amin; Hussah M Alobaid; Maha A Omair; Lena M Hassen

doi:10.1093/toxres/tfab093

Venom of the desert black snake Walterinnesia aegyptia enhances anti-tumor immunity via its beneficial modulatory effects on pro- and anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators in cultured colon cancer cells

Toxicol Res (Camb). 2021 Oct 19;10(6):1116-1128. doi: 10.1093/toxres/tfab093. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, College of Science, Centre for Scientific and Medical Female Colleges, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Biotechnology, Integral University, Lucknow, India.
³ Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Medical College, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Science, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ College of Dentistry, Riyadh ELM University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Statistics and Operations Research, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The role of inflammation in colon cancer is understood as a well-accepted factor that has the tendency to release multiple pro- and anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators. Inflammation-induced increased expression of anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators and decreased expression of pro-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators encourage beneficial inflammatory effects in terms of powerful anti-tumor immunity. The present study aims to screen the beneficial inflammatory effects of Walterinnesia aegyptia venom via determining its modulatory tendency on the expression of 40 pro- and anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators (cytokines/growth factors/chemokines) in LoVo human colon cancer cell line. LoVo-cells were treated with varying doses of crude venom of W. aegyptia. Cell viability was checked utilizing flow cytometry, and IC50 of venom was determined. Venom-induced inflammatory effects were evaluated on the expression of 40 different inflammatory mediators (12 anti-tumorigenic cytokines, 11 pro-tumorigenic cytokines, 7 pro-tumorigenic growth factors, 9 pro-tumorigenic chemokines and 1 anti-tumorigenic chemokine) in treated LoVo-cells [utilizing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)] and compared with controls. Treatment of venom induced significant cytotoxic effects on inflamed LoVo-cells. IC50 treatment of venom caused significant modulations on the expression of 22 inflammatory mediators in treated LoVo-cells. The beneficial modulatory effects of venom were screened via its capability to significantly increase the expression of five powerful anti-tumorigenic mediators (IL-9, IL-12p40, IL-15, IL-1RA and Fractalkine) and decrease the expression of four major pro-tumorigenic mediators (IL-1β, VEGF, MCP-1 and MCP-3). Walterinnesia aegyptia venom-induced beneficial modulations on the expression of nine crucial pro/anti-tumorigenic inflammatory mediators can be effectively used to enhance powerful anti-tumor immunity against colon cancer.

Keywords: colon cancerWalterinnesia aegyptia venominflammationanti-tumor immunitycytokinesgrowth factorschemokines.