Int J Biol Sci 2015; 11(2):209-219. doi:10.7150/ijbs.10143 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy. Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
2. School of Pharmacy, Medical Biology Centre, Queen's University, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK
3. School of Biomedical Science and Institute of Molecular Medicine, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, Fujian, China
Amphibian skin has proved repeatedly to be a largely untapped source of bioactive peptides and this is especially true of members of the Phyllomedusinae subfamily of frogs native to South and Central America. Tryptophyllins are a group of peptides mainly found in the skin of members of this genus. In this study, a novel tryptophyllin (TPH) type 3 peptide, named AcT-3, has been isolated and structurally-characterised from the skin secretion and lyophilised skin extract of the red-eye leaf frog, Agalychnis callidryas. The peptide was identified in and purified from the skin secretion by reverse-phase HPLC. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and MS/MS fragmentation sequencing established its primary structure as: pGlu-Gly-Lys-Pro-Tyr-Trp-Pro-Pro-Pro-Phe-Leu-Pro-Glu, with a non-protonated molecular mass of 1538.19Da. The mature peptide possessed the canonical N-terminal pGlu residue that arises from post-translational modification of a Gln residue. The deduced open-reading frame consisted of 63 amino acid residues encoding a highly-conserved signal peptide of approximately 22 amino acid residues, an intervening acidic spacer peptide domain, a single AcT-3 encoding domain and a C terminal processing site. A synthetic replicate of AcT-3 was found to antagonise the effect of BK on rat tail artery smooth muscle and to contract the intestinal smooth muscle preparations. It was also found that AcT-3 could dose-dependently inhibit the proliferation of human prostate cancer cell lines after 72h incubation.
Keywords: Agalychnis callidryas, proline-rich peptide, bradykinin antagonist, anticancer effect, myotropic activities