Antitumor activity of B. thuringiensis parasporin on the development of murine colorectal Cancer (CT-26)

• Grant number: 11/20162-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Cellular Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Ramon Kaneno
• Grantee: Cecilia Pessoa Rodrigues
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), is an environmental Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that produces a crystalline parasporal protein (Cry) during sporulation. The inclusions often exhibit strong and specific insecticidal activity, making Bt an agent for agricultural controlling insects pest, mites, protozoa, and nematodes. Recent studies reported that some of this Crys does not show cytotoxicity against insects but they are capable to kill some human and animal cancer cells. These proteins were denominated parasporins (PS). However, the antitumor activity of Bt parasporin on the development of murine colorectal Cancer (CT-26), are not well studies and these are no reports on the in vivo effect of these proteins. Thus, the present study aims to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antitumoral activity of Bt parasporin against the murine colorectal Cancer line CT-26. Therefore, Balb/c mice will be s.c. inoculate with CT-26 cells and weekly treated with parasporin (i.p.) pre-activated by enzymatic digestion with trypsin or proteinase K. At the end of the treatment (30 days) animals will be analyzed for the development of spleen cytotoxic T lymphocytes and histopathological changes induced by the treatment.(AU)