, 1993, Chen et al., 1997 and Church and Hodgson, 2002). Similarly, Sp-CTx also displays vascular effects. It induces a biphasic response on rat aortic rings, characterized by an endothelium- and dose-dependent relaxation phase followed by a contractile phase (Andrich et al., 2010). However, it is not quite clear whether this pharmacological action is a result of its direct pore-forming activity

as it was proved to be for the hemolytic activity. In conclusion, attempts to optimize the Sp-CTx purification process were successful and we first demonstrated that this toxin shares peptide fragments with others cytolysins indicating protein structure similarity among them. We also demonstrated for the first time the pore-forming property of Sp-CTx, which explains its potent selleck chemicals llc hemolytic activity. This work was supported by CNPq, FAPEMIG, CAPES, INCTTOX and FACITEC. The authors are indebted to M.L.B. Goze for capturing the fish used to extract the venom. “
“Macrophages play a critical role in a host’s defense against cancer. Several studies have demonstrated that

when monocytes/macrophages are activated under in vitro or in vivo conditions, they are able to lyse tumour cells. Macrophages exist in two distinct polarisation states, as classically activated macrophages (M1 macrophages) and alternatively activated macrophages (M2 macrophages) ( Mantovani et al., 1992 and Gordon, 2003). In the Ruxolitinib order initial stage of tumour progression, M1 macrophages release compounds that are cytotoxic to cancer cells, such as reactive nitrogen/oxygen intermediates, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α), IL-1β and IL-6 ( Roitt and Delves, 1992). The reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are formed during

the respiratory burst of the mononuclear phagocytes have been implicated in the mechanism of killing tumour cells. In addition, ROS act as signalling molecules to induce the production of IL-1β and the expression of inducible nitric oxide (iNOS) ( Song et al., 2002). Nitric oxide Casein kinase 1 (NO) has been shown to be toxic to tumour cells via mitochondrial damage, inhibition of DNA synthesis and disruption of the flux of substrates through the tricarboxylic acid cycle ( Hibbs et al., 1988, Lancaster and Hibbs, 1990 and Pellat et al., 1990). The production of IL-6 and TNF-α, which have a regulatory effect on tumour growth, has been implicated as one of the cytostatic/cytocidal factors in the direct anti-tumour activity of the activated macrophages ( Hamilton and Adams, 1987, Lewis and McGee, 1992, Paulnock, 1992 and Arinaga et al., 1992). During tumour progression, the secretory activities of these macrophages may become altered, resulting in their being unable to lyse tumour cells (Mosmann et al., 1986, Mantovani et al., 2004, Mantovani et al., 2005 and Sica et al.