Antimelanoma properties of cobra oil

Abstract

Cobra oil is a mixture of fatty acids proven to be most effective against skin melanoma. The properties of cobra oil were investigated against skin melanoma cancer cells. The anti-melanoma properties of cobra oil were determined using inhibition migration, cytotoxicity, apoptosis cell death and mRNA expression of BRAF V600E on SK-MEL-28 cells following wound healing, lactase dehydrogenase assay using a Cytox 96 Non-Radioactive Cytotoxicity kit, apoptosis cell death using flow cytometry and the expression of BRAF V600E using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The results showed that cobra oil at 5%, 10% and 20% (volume per volume; v/v) inhibited the cell migration of SK-MEL-28 cells by 26.80%, 61.85% and 91.43%, respectively. Cobra oil at 2.5% (v/v) had the maximum activity (97.75%) for cytotoxicity. The morphological changes of SK-MEL-28 cells included cellular shrinkage and abnormalities in size and shape. Cobra oil at 5% and 10% (v/v) induced 17% and 25% apoptosis, respectively, while at 2.5%, the cobra oil had no effect to the cells. However, the mRNA expression of the BRAF V600E gene was not significantly decreased by 0.5% cobra oil (0.85-fold) compared with untreated cells (1-fold). In conclusion, cobra oil had pharmaceutical properties that affected skin melanoma cells. An expanded study of cobra oil should be considered for further investigation.