Introduction:
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer and very high risk of metastasis of cancer. Many biotoxins like snake venom as a useful biological source of active compounds are potential anti-cancer agents. The aim of this study was examined toxicity and anti-tumour effects on breast and skin cancer cell lines.Materials and Methods:
Breast cancer cell line (4T1) and melanoma cells (B16F10) in RPMI 1640 medium with 10% FBS were cultured. Iranian cobra venom was purified by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. Molecular weight fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE method. The effect of anti-adhesion and cytotoxicity of the active fractions using by trypan blue staining and MTT assay were evaluated on 4T1, B16F10 and normal cell lines. The data and results were analyzed using the ‘Student’s’t-test .Results: Based on the results obtained from gel filtration chromatography, 6 fractions were separated. The fraction N.3 in the isolated fractions was a protein with a molecular weight of about 50 kDa that is equivalent to the molecular weight of disintegrins. Therefore, fraction N.3 nominated for further purification by anion exchange chromatography and four fractions were isolated. Fraction N.2 of Ion exchange chromatography was the most cytotoxic effects. The results of MTT assay showed 45%, 49% and 8 % ±1 on 4T1, B16F10 and normal cell lines (HEK293) respectively. (p≤ 0.05)Discussion & Conclusion: Integrins are proteins that contribute to the cellular attachment to the intracellular matrix. Disintegrins are proteins obtained from the snake venoms. Disintegrins blocks the selective action of Integrins as receptors in cancer metastasis. The active fraction ( N.2 of Ion exchange chromatography) of Iranian Cobra venom had toxicity effects on cancer cells with very low toxicity on normal cells. In this study, we observed a cytotoxic effect on breast and skin cancer cells, this results showed that Iranian cobra venom had a protein as a disintegrin molecule with medicinal properties are highly valued and could be nominated for future research against cancer.