Anticancer peptide SVS-1 : efficacy precedes membrane neutralization

© 2012 American Chemical Society - The final version of record is available at http://pubs.acs.org/journal/bichawAnticancer peptides are polycationic amphiphiles capable of preferentially killing a wide spectrum of cancer cells relative to noncancerous cells. Their primary mode of action is an interaction with the cell membrane and subsequent activation of lytic effects; however, the exact mechanism responsible for this mode of action remains controversial. Using zeta potential analyses we demonstrate the interaction of a small anticancer peptide with membrane model systems and cancer cells. Electrostatic interactions have a pivotal role in the cell killing process, and in contrast to the antimicrobial peptides action cell death occurs without achieving full neutralization of the membrane charge.Partial Financial Support for this work was provided by FCT (Lisbon), through the contract PTDC/SAU-BEB/099142/2008. This work was also supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute of the NIH. - D.G. acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Ministério da Educação e Ciência, Portugal) for Fellowship SFRH/BPD/73500/2010. A.S.V. acknowledges a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (PIOF-GA-2009-235154). C.S. acknowledges the Strategic Scholarship for Frontier Research Network (SFR) from Office of the Higher Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Thailand