Proteomic and functional profiling of the venom of Bothrops ayerbei from Cauca, Colombia, reveals striking interspecific variation with Bothrops asper venom.

Bothrops ayerbei, a pitviper inhabiting the Patía River's basin (Valle Alto del Río Patía) in the Southwestern Department of Cauca, Colombia, was considered as a variant form of Bothrops asper prior to being proposed as a new species in 2010, on the basis of subtle morphological differences. This study reports the proteomic and functional profiling of B. ayerbei venom. Its most striking feature is an almost complete absence (0.7%) of phospholipases A2 (PLA2), which is in contrast to the high proportion of these enzymes (25.3%) in the venom of B. asper from Cauca, as well as in other species of Bothrops. The predominant proteins in B. ayerbei venom are metalloproteinases (53.7%), in agreement with its higher hemorrhagic and lethal activities compared to B. asper venom. Moreover, the negligible content of PLA2s in B. ayerbei venom correlates with its weaker myotoxic effect, in contrast to B. asper venom, here shown to contain abundant Asp49- and Lys49-type PLA2s responsible for its strong myotoxic activity. Other components identified in B. ayerbei venom include bradykinin-potentiating-like peptides and proteins belonging to the C-type lectin/lectin-like, serine proteinase, l-amino acid oxidase, disintegrin, cysteine-rich secretory protein, nerve growth factor, and phosphodiesterase families. The venom composition of B. ayerbei resembles that of neonate specimens of B. asper, which shows a predominance of metalloproteinases, with only low amounts of PLA2s. Therefore, the present findings suggest that the expression of venom proteins in B. ayerbei, in contrast to B. asper, might retain a marked 'paedomorphic' condition. Altogether, the proteomic and toxicological characterization of the venom of B. ayerbei here reported argues in favor of its taxonomical separation from B. asper in Cauca, Colombia. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B. ayerbei, a pitviper found in Cauca, Colombia, had been considered as a variant form of B. asper, but was recently described as a new species on the basis of subtle morphological differences. Our study provides the first detailed proteomic and functional analysis of the venom of B. ayerbei, revealing striking interspecific variation from B. asper, thus arguing in favor of their taxonomical separation. In addition, the observed composition of the venom of B. ayerbei correlates well with its functional and toxicological properties, helping to predict the main clinical manifestations in envenomings by this species, which inflicts a considerable number of snakebites in the Southwestern regions of Colombia.

Caracterización de los hallazgos histopatológicos de tumores colorrectales en pacientes del Tolima, Colombia / Characterization of histopathological findings from colorectal tumors from patients in Tolima

En Colombia, el cáncer colorectal es reconocido como un importante problema de salud pública, con una tendencia general al incremento en ambos géneros; se ubica entre los cinco primeros lugares en relación con la mortalidad. Teniendo en cuenta los diagnósticos histopatológicos reunidos entre enero de 2000 y diciembre de 2007, se realizó un análisis descriptivo retrospectivo en 191 pacientes tolimenses con tumores colorrectales tipo adenocarcinoma; estos fueron seleccionados en cinco centros de patología de la ciudad de Ibagué, mediante pruebas descriptivas básicas empleando el método porcentual. Los datos más sobresalientes corresponden a la edad al momento del diagnóstico (promedio mayor de 60 años), localización en el recto (34,6%) y en el colon izquierdo (28,3%) y aumento de los adenomas tubulovelloso y velloso.

In Colombia, colorectal cancer is recognized as a major public health problem. Its general tendency is occur more frequently among both genders. It now ranks among the top five in terms of mortality. Using histopathological diagnoses collected from pathology laboratories in Ibagué, Tolima between January 2000 and December 2007, we conducted a retrospective analysis of 191 patients who had colorectal adenocarcinoma. The most important findings are that the average age of diagnosis was over 60 years, most common tumor locations were in the rectum (34.6%) and in the left colon (283%), and the greatest numbers of tumors were tubulovillous adenoma, or villous adenoma. Most of cases were tubular.