Investigating the effects of animal venoms in ovarian cancer

Objectives: Ovarian Cancer is considered the most lethal gynaecological disease with over 9 million women dying annually on a global scale. Current standards of care which consists of debulking surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy are proving to be inadequate due to chemoresistance whilst targeted-therapies available are limited. This prompts research into identifying the therapeutic potential of animal venoms in relation to ovarian cancer.

Materials and Methods: Using a 50% threshold, the ability of crude venom from Parabuthus transvaalicus (Transvaalicus thick-tailed scorpion), Heterometrus madraspatensis (Madras forest scorpion) and Heterometrus mysorensis to inhibit SK-OV-3 cell metabolism was analysed using dose response assays. Furthermore, fractioned venoms Naja nigricollis_r11 (Black-necked spitting cobra) and Pandinus cavimanus_r28 (Tanzanian red clawed scorpion) were also investigated for their inhibitory effects on the cell line.

Results: Crude Parabuthus transvaalicus venom at a concentration of 200µg/ml inhibited 44.55% of SK-OV-3 cell metabolism. Heterometrus madraspatensis and Heterometrus mysorensis venom at a concentration of 500µg/ml inhibited 0.78% and 2.35% of cell metabolism respectively. Fractioned venom Pandinus cavimanus_r28 at a concentration of 15.63µg/ml inhibited 2.54% of cell metabolism whilst Naja nigricollis_r11 venom fraction produced an LD50 of 37.23µg/ml.