Ribosome Inactivation and the Integrity of the Intestinal Epithelial Barrier

The mistletoe lectin viscumin (MLI) is a ribosome-inactivating protein from Viscum album widely used in cancer therapy. Its antitumor properties are due to its immunomodulating action, previously demonstrated in experiments involving intravenous, subcutaneous, and oral administration of viscumin. To investigate whether viscumin has a cytotoxic effect on the intestinal epithelium, its safety was assessed using (i) impedance spectroscopy to measure the integrity of the colorectal adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cell monolayer after exposure to viscumin and (ii) a novel technique of determining the portion of viscumin-inactivated ribosomes. It was shown that inactivation of at least 20% of the ribosomes within 6 h did not lead to disruption of the Caco-2 cell monolayer or alter the physicochemical parameters of enterocyte membranes.