Isolation and Characterization of Conotoxin Protein from Conus inscriptus and Its Potential Anticancer Activity Against Cervical Cancer (HeLa-HPV 16 Associated) Cell Lines

Marine snails are abundant sources of biologically important conopeptides with their potential applications in drug development. The present study aimed to identify the potential conopeptides from the venom duct of Conus inscriptus. After extraction conopeptides were characterized by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometric analysis showing totally 29 protein sequences with disulfide linkages of different molecular mass distributed in the range of 387–1536 m/z and the peptides showing mostly to T-superfamily of conotoxins with 78 kDa heat shock proteins. The venom peptides showed six different molecular weight bands (37, 51, 60, 70, 80 and 90 kDa) above 30 kDa after in-gel enzymatic digestion. Furthermore, the conopeptides exhibit potential cytotoxic activity against HeLa-HPV 16 associated, Vero (normal) cell lines and brine shrimp. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy analysis confirms the structural and functional groups. The observed results suggests the venom peptides from C. inscriptus as a potential anticancer agent.