Abstract:
The treatment of cancer is basically on synthetics and chemotherapeutics; these kinds of
treatment cause various harmful side effects to human beings. For this reason the search for new natural and safe drugs is the aim of the different laboratories in the word. Plant and marine species are the major source of natural drugs; few researches have been interested in purifying bioactive molecules from other terrestrial consumed species like snails. The aim of our study is to test the anti tumor and the immuno-modulatory effect of an aqueous extract from Helix aspersa. The garden snail is a big land snail found widely in the Mediterranean countries, it is one of the most consumed species and widely used in zootherapy. Firstly, we have interest to test the anti oxidant propriety by chemical methods. Then we have tested its effect in vitro on the tow cell lines THP1 and Hs578T In vivo the extract’s effects have been explored on a model of chronic of inflammatory response, induced in mice by lipopolysaccharides from Escherichia coli. The results show that, H. aspersa extract have an anti-oxydant effect at high dose, it can reduce the radical DPPH and Fe3+ ions. It can scavenge peroxyde hydrogen and inhibits lipid peroxidation. The extract has also an anti tumor effect on breast cancer cells Hs578T. The data demonstrate that it induces a programmed necrosis in tumour cells. It enhances significantly the expression of TNFα. The mRNA level of the cytokine was 20 times more important in treated cells compared to non treated cells. Our extract is a good inhibitor of BcL2 and NF-κB. It inhibits also the expression of tumor suppressor genes P53 and PTEN
