Immunome Research
Open Access

Montivipera bornmuelleri venom has immunomodulatory effects mainly up-regulating some proinflammatory cytokines in the spleens of mice

9^th Molecular Immunology & Immunogenetics Congress

March 08-09, 2018 | London, UK

Tania Yacoub, Ziad Fajloun, Walid Hleihel and Marc Karam

University of Balamand, Lebanon
Lebanese University, Lebanon
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Immunome Res

Abstract :

Beside their toxicity, snake venom components possess many pharmacological effects and have been used to design drugs. Montivipera bornmuelleri venom exhibits high cytotoxic effects on cancerous keratinocytes, antibacterial, vasorelaxant, pro- and anti-coagulant as well as inflammatory activities in vitro. However, the in vivo effects of this snake venom on the immune system of mice have not been established yet. Here, we investigate the immunomodulatory effects of M. bornmuelleri venom on the splenic levels of TNF-�±, IFN-�³, IL-4, IL-10, IL-1�� and IL-17 at 6 and 24 hours post treatment. Different doses of venom (25 �µg, 50 �µg, 100 �µg and 150 �µg) were injected intraperitoneally in BALB/c mice. Using the logit method, LD50 of M. bornmuelleri was proved to be 47.9 �µg/mice in our experimental conditions. Also, we show here that 25�µg and 50�µg of M. bornmuelleri venom are able to modulate the levels of cytokines in the spleen of mice, as assessed using ELISA. In general, this snake venom up-regulates TNF-�±, IFN-�³, IL-1�� and IL-17 with a trend in decreasing IL-4 and IL-10. Therefore, by favoring Th1 and Th17 over Th2 and Treg responses, M. bornmuelleri venom might have important clinical implication especially in the field of cancer immunotherapy. marc.karam@balamand.edu.lb