Induction of Transient Ion Channel-Like Pores in a Cancer Cell by Antibiotic Peptide

Authors: Jian-Shan Ye¹; Xiao-Jing Zheng²; King Wong Leung²; Hueih Min Chen³

Source: The Journal of Biochemistry, Volume 136, Number 2, August 2004 , pp. 255-259(5)

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Abstract:

The anticancer activity of anti-bacterial cecropins makes them potentially useful as peptide anti-cancer drugs. We used the cell-attached patch to study the effect of cecropin B (CB; having one hydrophobic and one amphipathic alpha

-helix) and its derivative, cecropin B3 (CB3; having two hydrophobic alpha

-helices) on the membrane of Ags cancer cells. Application of 10–60 µM CB onto the membrane of the cancer cell produces short outward currents. Comparative study with CB3, which induces no outward currents, shows that the amphipathic group of CB is necessary for the pore formation. The results provide a rationale to study the cell-killing activity of antimicrobial peptides at the single cancer cell level.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jb/mvh114

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biological Sciences, 14 Science Drive 4, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore; 2: Department of Biochemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, PR China; 3: Institute of BioAgricultural Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; and

Publication date: 2004-08-01