Biomedical scientist Zoltan Takacs has traveled to more than countries in search of venomous creatures that can potentially help create new medical treatments -- like this sea snake in Fiji. Scroll through the gallery for more on the ways venomous animals are aiding in drug development.
Hide Caption. Animal venoms have evolved to immobilize and kill prey in seconds. Venomous toxins target vital body parts with extreme precision and potency, making them valuable templates to craft new drugs. Pictured, a desert viper preys on a gecko. The venom of the Brazilian lancehead viper was once used on arrowheads. It was later identified as a potent drug to treat high blood pressure and was the first venom-based drug approved by the FDA, in Snake venom is captured through a process known as "milking" -- luring snakes to bite onto a material laid over the opening of a jar.
A toxin isolated from saw-scaled viper venom served as the template for the drug tirofiban, used in the treatment of myocardial infarction. The snake is found in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Viper venom prevents blood from clotting, which can be harnessed for anticoagulant drugs. Pictured, left: Blood from a healthy control coagulates after 20 minutes of test time. Right: Bitten by a mountain pit viper, blood from a patient in Nepal remains unclotted after 20 minutes.
Venomous marine snails such as the cone snail have complex and potent venoms. The drug ziconotide originated from cone snail venom and is today used for the management of severe chronic pain. The Gila monster is one of the very few species of venomous lizard.
It's found in the United States and Mexico and is the source of exenatide -- a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes. Toxins produced by sea anemones have been in trials for a drug to treat autoimmune diseases, where the immune system attacks certain cells in the body by mistaking them for invaders. There are more than species of land snakes found in Malaysia. While there's greater access to health facilities in urban areas, antivenom is not widely available, she adds.
Therefore, they can be found at selected government hospitals only. Funding continues to be the greatest challenge in her ongoing research, exacerbated by the pandemic. Conservation sites are being compromised by commercial and population growth, putting pressure on ecosystems and threatened species. A new global register will help countries in the ongoing fight against invasive species. You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons licence.
If you have any questions, please email lens. Dummy text. Exploring the untapped potential of cytotoxins Though life-threatening, the venom of snakes is also life-giving. The Equatorial spitting cobra is classified as a Category 1 venomous snake. It is well known that snake venom is complex mixture of enzymes, peptides and proteins of low molecular mass with specific chemical and biological activities.
Snake venom contains several neurotoxic, cardiotoxic, cytotoxic, nerve growth factor, lectins, disintrigrins, haemorrhagins and many other different enzymes. Table 1 Antimicrobial activity of snake venoms. Snake Venoms for Drug Discovery Development of new drugs represents one of the furthermost challenging activities of the pharmaceutical industry.
Table 2 Snake venom-based drugs in the market and in clinical trials. Stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and myocardial infarction Hemocoagulase Bothrops atrox Catalyzes the coagulation of the blood. Plastic surgery, abdominal surgery, and human vitrectomy Exanta Ximelagatran Cobra venom Direct thrombin inhibitors. Thromboembolic complications of atrial fibrillation In clinical trials Alfimeprase Agkistrodon contortrix Thrombolytic activity.
Acute peripheral arterial occlusion Viprinex Ancrod Agkistrodon rhodostoma Defibrinogenating agent. Acute ischemic stroke. Toxin-Derived Drugs from Snake Venom Proteins in Clinical Trials and Stages of Development Further, it is interesting to note that there are few toxin-based drugs that are presently being approved for phase III clinical trials and are at various stages of development with promising horizons of application in the US.
Conclusions It may be concluded that only a small fraction of snake venom components have been identified, and continued technical improvements in the drug discovery field are likely to uncover many new therapeutic leads from snake venoms. Key Contribution Snake venoms comprise a combination of biological active components that are involved not only in envenomation pathophysiology but also in the development of new drugs to treat many diseases.
Author Contributions Conceptualization, T. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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