Evaluation of the effects of paederus beetle extract and gamma irradiation on HeLa cells

Authors

1 Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

2 Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran 2 Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

3 Department of Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

4 Department of Radiation Therapy & Oncology, Shahid Rajaei Hospital, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Objective(s):Cervical cancer is a malignancy that is the second most common cause of death from cancer in women throughout the world. Paederus beetle (Paederus fuscipes) extract (PBE), contains bioactive compounds such as pederine which has cytotoxic properties and blocks DNA and protein synthesis at very low concentrations. In this investigation we tried to determine the effects co-treatment with PBE and gamma irradiation on HeLa cells.
Materials and Methods: The viability of the cells was measured by two methods: MTT and Colony assay.
Results: We found that supplementing gamma irradiation therapy with PBE does not increase cell death and it might even interfere with its cytotoxicty at the concentrations below 0.1 ng/ml and the viability for irradiation vs irradiation + PBE was 37%: 60%.  
Conclusion: This finding might be due to radioprotective effects of the very low doses of PBE against gamma radiation.

Keywords


1. Mozdarani H, Monfared AS. Laserthermia enhances the clastogenic effects of antineoplastic agents in aerobic and chronically hypoxic heLa cells in vitro. Cancer Lett 2001; 17-24.
2. Benedet JL , Bender H, Jones H 3rd, Ngan HY, Pecorelli S. FIGO staging classifications and clinical practice guidelines in the management of gynecologic cancers. FIGO Committee on Gynecologic Oncology. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 2000; 70:209-262.
3. Kimura T, Miyatake T, Ueda Y, Ohta Y, Enomoto T, Kamiura S. Cervical non-squamous carcinoma: an effective combination chemotherapy of taxane, anthracycline and platinum for advanced or recurrent cases. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reproduct Biol 2012; 164:200-204.
4. Nair S, Nair RR, Srinivas P, Srinivas G, Pillai MR. Radiosensitizing effects of plumbagin in cervical cancer cells is through modulation of apoptotic pathway. Mol Carcinog 2008; 47:22-33.
 5. Pearcey R, Brundage M, Drouin P, Jeffrey J, Johnston D, Lukka H, et al. Phase III trial comparing radical radiotherapy with and without cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with advanced squamous cell cancer of the cervix. J Clin Oncol 2002;0:966-972.
6. Candelaria M, Garcia-Arias A, Cetina L, Duenas-Gonzalez A. Radiosensitizers in cervical cancer. Cisplatin and beyond. Radiat Oncol 2006; 1:15.
Kinghorn AD, Chin YW, Swanson SM. Discovery of natural product anticancer agents from biodiverse organisms. Curr Opin Drug Discov Devel 2009; 12:189-196.
7. Frank JH, Kanamitsu K. Paederus, sensu lato (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae): natural history and medical importance. J Med Entomol 1987; 24:155-191.
8. Piel J, Hofer I, Hui D. Evidence for a symbiosis island involved in horizontal acquisition of pederin biosynthetic capabilities by the bacterial symbiont of Paederus fuscipes beetles. J Bacteriol 2004; 186:1280-1286.
9. Ratcliffe NA, Mello CB, Garcia ES, Butt TM, Azambuja P. Insect natural products and processes: new treatments for human disease. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2011; 41:747-769.
10. Brega A, Falaschi A, De Carli L, Pavan M. Studies on the mechanism of action of pederine. J Cell Biol 1968; 36:485-496.
11. Levine MR, Dancis J, Pavan M, Cox RP. Cell fusion induced by pederine. Pediatr Res 1974; 8:606-608.
12. Zhang B, Liu JY, Pan JS, Han SP, Yin XX, Wang B, et al. Combined treatment of ionizing radiation with genistein on cervical cancer HeLa cells. J Pharm Sci 2006; 102:129-135.
13. Mauro F, Madoc-Jones H. Age responses of cultured mammalian cells to cytotoxic drugs. Cancer Res 1970; 30:1397-1408.
14. Franken NA,  Rodermond HM,  Stap J, Haveman J, van Bree C. Clonogenic assay of cells in vitro. Nat Protoc 2006; 1:2315-2319.