6A). Administration PD-0332991 mw of 0.96 nmol (10 μg/day–300 μg/kg/day) of the purified leucurogin significantly inhibited the growth of experimental Ehrlich tumor by more than 50% as compared to the saline (Fig. 6B). The tumor mass from animals treated with 10 μg/day leucurogin was 0.23 ± 0.06 g, and the mass from the group treated with 0.9% saline was 0.49 ± 0.09 g.

Angiogenesis was evaluated at day 11 after the beginning of treatment. Neovascularization was also measured by evaluating the amount of hemoglobin within the sponge. There was a significant decrease (∼82%) in the hemoglobin levels in the sponge of animals treated with 10 μg/day of leucurogin and at 50 μg/day the decreasing was around 100% (Fig. 7). Bothrops snake venoms are rich sources of metalloproteinases, enzymes involved in the hemorrhagic process caused by the venom Bjarnason and Fox (2004). These proteinases, by autolysis, may generate some bioactive fragments known as disintegrins or the conjugate dis-cys depending of the snake species

(Takeda et al., 2006). A growing body of evidences showing the ability of disintegrins to inhibit platelet aggregation and its effects involving the largely distributed membrane receptors integrins has been accumulated in the literature. It was observed in our lab that one proteinic fraction, partially purified from B. leucurus venom, is able to inhibit tumor growth implanted in mice. This fraction, presenting a 27 kDa protein is able to inhibit Ehrlich tumor growth by 60% when subcutaneously injected in the mice at 300 μg/kg body weight/day during 9 days (unpublished data). We believed that the effect check details upon tumor growth was due to the 27 kDa protein, probably one dis-cys conjugate. As the biological effects of dis-cys conjugate are not well defined, Tideglusib if attributed to the disintegrin-like or to the cysteine rich domain, we decided, for a better biological characterization, to produce the recombinant disintegrin-like segment. Recombinant DNA techniques gives us the possibility to obtain, in large amounts, proteins not found in nature in a free form, allowing the study of their putative biological

properties, therefore providing pivotal tools to understand different biological processes. Recent studies have examined the participation of integrin–disintegrin interaction in physiological and pathophysiological processes (Takeda et al., 2006, Kamiguti et al., 1998 and Clemetson, 1998). Due to their ability to inhibit adhesion, disintegrins may represent potential tools for cancer therapy since adhesion is an important step for angiogenesis development. Jararhagin C, a 30 kDa dis-cys hydrolysis product of jararhagin (Moura da Silva et al., 1999 and Usami et al., 1994) and halydin, the firstly described recombinant disintegrin-like (You et al., 2003), are potent inhibitors of platelet aggregation. Leucurogin, the ECD recombinant disintegrin-like described in this study showed to be active against tumor growth.