Snake venoms are mixtures of bioactive proteins and peptides that exhibit diverse biochemical activities. This wide array of pharmacologies associated with snake venoms has made them attractive sources for research into potentially novel therapeutics, and several venom-derived drugs are now in use. In the current study we performed a broad screen of a variety of venoms (61 taxa) from the major @entity5900 families (Viperidae, Elapidae and "Colubridae") in order to examine cytotoxic effects toward MCF-7 @entity0 cells and A-375 @entity320 cells. @entity98 cell viability assays of @entity5 cells incubated with crude venoms revealed that most venoms showed significant @entity137 . We further investigated venom from the Red-bellied Blacksnake (Pseudechis porphyriacus); venom was fractionated by ion exchange fast protein liquid chromatography and several cytotoxic components were isolated. @entity214 -PAGE and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry were used to identify the compounds in this venom responsible for the cytotoxic effects. In general, viper venoms were potently cytotoxic, with MCF-7 cells showing greater sensitivity, while elapid and colubrid venoms were much less toxic; notable exceptions included the elapid genera Micrurus, Naja and Pseudechis, which were quite cytotoxic to both cell lines. However, venoms with the most potent @entity137 were often not those with low @entity19 LD50s, including some dangerously venomous viperids and Australian elapids. This study confirmed that many venoms contain cytotoxic compounds, including catalytic @entity7098 , and several venoms also showed significant differential @entity137 toward the two @entity5 cell lines. Our results indicate that several previously uncharacterized venoms could contain promising lead compounds for drug development.

Evaluation of cytotoxic activities of snake XXXX (A-375) cell lines.

@entity137 :: ('MESH:D064420', 'Disease') :: ['toxicity', 'cytotoxicity'] @entity0 :: ('MESH:D001943', 'Disease') :: ['breast cancer'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancer'] @entity19 :: ('10090', 'Species') :: ['mouse'] @entity98 :: ('CHEBI:53233', 'Chemical') :: ['MTT'] @entity7098 :: ('5320', 'Gene') :: ['PLA2s'] @entity320 :: ('MESH:D008545', 'Disease') :: ['melanoma'] @entity214 :: ('CHEBI:8984', 'Chemical') :: ['SDS'] @entity5900 :: ('MESH:D012909', 'Disease') :: ['venomous snake']
@entity0 :: (MESH:D001943,Disease) :: ['venoms toward breast (MCF-7) and skin cancer']
