In the study, the impact of protonectin (IL-12) on the bioavailability of human lung carcinoma cell line A549 as well as on HFLF healthy lung fibroblast cells was investigated for 24 h and 48 h. Results demonstrated highest cytotoxicity of protonectin on the A549 cell line at 12 μg/ml and 50 μg/ml, and after 48 h and 24 h cell incubation respectively. No cytotoxicity was observed during the incubation of normal HFLF lung cells with the IL-12 peptide. The peptide did not have any significant impact on the hemolysis of human and cattle red blood cells as well as on the viability of human lymphocytes. The effect of protonectin on gene expression of BMI-1 and CD44 as cancer markers was investigated by the real-time RT-PCR. Results indicated that the effect of the peptide on down-regulation of the BMI-1 gene expression was higher compared to CD44 at 12 μg/ml over 24 h and 48 h. A dose and time-dependent pattern was observed in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the treated A549 cells. From this study, it can be concluded that protonectin has a significant impact on cancer cells for the down-regulation of gene expression of cancer markers and for the up-regulation of the production of ROS.

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