Inhibition of binding of Vibrio vulnificus hemolysin (VVH) by MβCD.

Vibrio vulnificus secrets a pore-forming toxin called Vibrio vulnificus hemolysin (VVH). In this study, we showed that methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MβCD), an oligosaccharide, decreased binding of VVH to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, resulting in inhibition of its cytotoxicity. When the VVH was incubated with MβCD, cytotoxicity of the toxin was inhibited from 100.3 ± 7.2% to 19.6 ± 5.3%. Binding analysis showed that the amount of VVH on the cells was decreased from 101.4 ± 9.2% to 18.1 ± 8.0% only when MβCD was present in the culture media. Our results indicate that the inhibition of cytotoxicity of VVH by MβCD was due to a decrease in the amount of toxin binding to CHO cells.