title: The cytolytic action of all-D mastoparan M on tumor cell lines.
abstract: All-D and all-L mastoparan M, a tetradecapeptide toxin (INLKAIAALAKKLL-NH2) from hornet venom, were chemically synthesized in this study. Under circular dichroism investigation, all-D and L-mastoparan M adopted a 30% alpha-helical structure in 30% trifluroethanol solution but only a 10% á-helical structure in phosphate solution. After being added to the cultures of tumor cell lines in vitro, D-mastoparan (12.5 micrograms/ml) directly inhibited the growth of the tumor cell lines Colo 225 (59%), KB (38%), Hep-2 (63%), H226Br (43%) and HeLa (54%) determined by the MTT assay. We also found that D-mastoparan M has a higher potency of antitumor cell activity in vitro than L-mastoparan M. When examined under the scanning-beam electron microscope, hollow, shrunk and collapsed structures of tumor cells could be seen, after being mixed with D-mastoparan M. The appearance of these morphological alterations indicated that mastoparan M inhibits the growth of tumor cells by direct lysis of target cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010455:Peptides; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014862:Wasp Venoms / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D014862:Wasp Venoms; C037500:mastoparan