Chlorotoxin-Fc Fusion Inhibits Release of MMP-2 from Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Abstract EN

Chlorotoxin (CTX) is a 36-amino acid peptide derived from Leiurus quinquestriatus (scorpion) venom, which inhibits low-conductance chloride channels in colonic epithelial cells.

It has been reported that CTX also binds to matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), membrane type-1 MMP, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2, as well as CLC-3 chloride ion channels and other proteins.

Pancreatic cancer cells require the activation of MMP-2 during invasion and migration.

In this study, the fusion protein was generated by joining the CTX peptide to the amino terminus of the human IgG-Fc domain without a hinge domain, the monomeric form of chlorotoxin (M-CTX-Fc).

The resulting fusion protein was then used to target pancreatic cancer cells (PANC-1) in vitro.

M-CTX-Fc decreased MMP-2 release into the media of PANC-1 cells in a dose-dependent manner.

M-CTX-Fc internalization into PANC-1 cells was observed.

When the cells were treated with chlorpromazine (CPZ), the internalization of the fusion protein was reduced, implicating a clathrin-dependent internalization mechanism of M-CTX-Fc in PANC-1 cells.

Furthermore, M-CTX-Fc clearly exhibited the inhibition of the migration depending on the concentration, but human IgG, as negative control of Fc, was not affected.

The M-CTX-Fc may be an effective instrument for targeting pancreatic cancer.