Pro-apoptotic effects of Amblyomin-X in murine renal cell carcinoma “in vitro”

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most lethal urologic cancers and is highly resistant to both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The recombinant protein Amblyomin-X, characterized as a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, was obtained from a cDNA library from the salivary glands of the Amblyomma cajennense tick. This paper reports the biological effect of Amblyomin-X on inducing cell death by apoptotic process in vitro. For this purpose, the changes in morphological aspects of cells, the phosphatidylserine exposition and DNA degradation were evaluated after treatment with Amblyomin-X. We found that Amblyomin-X was able to induce apoptosis in Renca cells in a dose-dependent manner. So, the results presented here open perspectives for new researches and developing for Amblyomin-X in the treatment of RCC.