| Grant number: | 13/13392-4 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | June 01, 2014 |
| End date: | November 30, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Biochemical and Molecular Pharmacology |
| Principal Investigator: | Mirian Akemi Furuie Hayashi |
| Grantee: | Mirian Akemi Furuie Hayashi |
| Host Institution: | Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Associated researchers: | Camila Miyagui Yonamine Asanuma ; Eduardo Brandt de Oliveira ; Fábio Dupart Nascimento ; Ivarne Luis dos Santos Tersariol ; Liza Figueiredo Felicori Vilela ; Nancy Oguiura ; Robson Lopes de Melo ; Vitor Marcelo Silveira Bueno Brandão de Oliveira |
Abstract
Venom toxins are of utmost scientific interest, not only for the studies of the pathophysiological pathways underlying the envenomation processes, but also mainly because of their possible use for therapeutic purposes, i.e. as drug and/or as structural template model for drug development that could be employed for the treatment of human diseases.Considering the biochemical and structural similarities observed between crotamine, which is a toxin from rattlesnake, and the cell penetrating peptides (CPPs), our group has focused the efforts to demonstrate that crotamine is also able to penetrate cells with particular specificity for actively proliferating cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we have also demonstrated that crotamine is capable of carrying DNA molecules into cells with no loss of specificity. More recently, we also demonstrated that the cytotoxic activity of crotamine is selective for cells with high rate of cell division, and this affinity for tumor tissue, as well as its ability to inhibit tumor growth, have both been proven in vivo. This all stimulated us to protect the commercial and industrial use of this compound by filing a patent [INPI No. 05/01037-3 and PCT/BR2006/000052]. The potential application of this peptide as a vector for transfection of mammalian cells has been licensed and currently is operated in conjunction with the Irish company Celtic Biotech.However, the potential possibility of commercial employment of crotamine might be hampered by the limitation of the access to the native crotamine, and this encouraged us to propose studies aiming to evaluate the feasibility of the use of synthetic analogues (full length and/or shorter peptide fragments) and/or recombinant crotamine as an alternative sources of this compound. The potentially use as antimicrobial, antitumour, biomarker and/or as a vector for gene delivery in therapy in vitro and/or in vivo mainly justify the present project. (AU)
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USO DA CROTAMINA PARA A MODULAÇÃO DO METABOLISMO E CONTROLE DE GANHO DE PESO ANIMAL BR1020170009777 - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) . Mirian Akemi Furuie Hayashi ; Joana D´Arc Campeiro ; Marcelo Paradiso Marinovic ; Marcelo Alves Da Silva Mori - January 2017, 17