title: St20, a new venomous animal derived natural peptide with immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activities.
abstract: Peptide toxins from venomous animals are natural resources with diverse biological functions and therapeutic potential towards human diseases. For venomous scorpions, many valuable peptide toxins have been discovered from Buthidae scorpions, but few works were done about non-buthidae scorpions. Here, we cloned and characterized the first disulfide-bridged toxin peptide St20 from the non-buthidae scorpion Scorpiops tibetanus. St20 has a putative 23-residue signal peptide, followed by a presumed 34-residue mature peptide including 8 cysteines. Sequence alignments and structural analysis suggested that St20 is a new member of α-KTx23 scorpion toxin subfamily with a conserved CSα/β structural fold. Functional studies showed that St20 inhibited human T lymphocyte surface marker CD69 expression and cytokine IL-2 secretion. Beside this, St20 inhibited two important pro-inflammatory factors TNF-α and IFN-γ secretion in the activated human T lymphocyte. Animal experiments showed that the delayed-type hypersensitivity response in rat autoimmune disease model was ameliorated in the present of peptide toxin St20. Together, our results showed that St20 is the first disulfide-bridged toxin peptide from the non-buthidae scorpion Scorpiops tibetanus with immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activities, suggesting that toxins from non-buthidae scorpions might be a new source of peptide drug discovery towards human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, Dongfeng Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Weishan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Yuwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xianyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Dongfeng Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Wenxin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Yingliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, Dongfeng Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China; Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, Dongfeng Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China. Electronic address: chenzy2005@126.com.
authors.forename: Zongyun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000188:drug therapy; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D012604:Scorpion Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012605:Scorpions; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D010455:Peptides; D012604:Scorpion Venoms; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma
keywords: Autoimmune disease; Non-buthidae; Scorpiops tibetanus; Toxin peptide; Venomous animal