The discovery and functional assessment of novel peptide QUB-2686 from Red-eyed tree frog, Agalychnis callidryas

Amphibian skin secretions contain a variety of bioactive components, which play vital roles in their survival and act as the first line to defence against microorganisms, parasites and predators. Novel peptides with pharmacological activities are constantly being discovered in amphibian skin secretions. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify a novel peptide with bioactive function, which would contribute to the development of new drugs. <br/>In this thesis, a novel peptide named QUB-2686 has been identified from Agalychnis callidryas through ‘shotgun’ cloning. The synthesis of novel peptide was carried out by Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis technology. After purification and authentication of the synthetic replication of QUB-2686 by reserve phase HPLC and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, QUB-2686 was subjected to functional tests and it was found to have potent anticancer effect (cell viability percentage lower than 50% at concentration of 10-5M) on lung cancer H157 cell line (ATCC-CRL-5802), and moderate anticancer activity on breast cancer cell line MCF-7 (ATCC-HTB-22), prostate cancer cell line PC3 (ATCC-CRL-1435), human neuronal glioblastoma cell line U251MG (ECACC-09063001), but rather weak antimicrobial activity against E. coli (NCTC.10418), C. albicans (NCTC.1467) and S. aureus (NCTC.10788). Meanwhile, its haemolytic activity on equine erythrocytes was relatively low.<br/>As a whole, the data generated in this project demonstrated that QUB-2686 has anticancer activity with low toxicity. The future works could be focused on investigation of these effects for cancer therapy. <br/>

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Master of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Masters Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Queen's University Belfast

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Hao

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Chen, Tianbao
• Zhou, Mei

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/10b07205-d4a9-4838-97f0-2ac41203b007

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/10b07205-d4a9-4838-97f0-2ac41203b007