Snake venom toxins: toxicity and medicinal applications

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2016 Jul;100(14):6165-6181. doi: 10.1007/s00253-016-7610-9.

Yau Sang Chan ¹, Randy Chi Fai Cheung ², Lixin Xia ³, Jack Ho Wong ⁴, Tzi Bun Ng ⁵, Wai Yee Chan ⁶

Affiliations

1 State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease for Allergy, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Nanhai Ave 3688, 518060, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
2 School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
3 State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease for Allergy, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Nanhai Ave 3688, 518060, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. [email protected].
4 School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].
5 School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].
6 School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].

PMID: 27245678 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-016-7610-9

Abstract

Snake Venoms are complex mixtures of small molecules and Peptides/proteins, and most of them display certain kinds of bioactivities. They include neurotoxic, cytotoxic, cardiotoxic, myotoxic, and many different enzymatic activities. Snake envenomation is a significant health issue as millions of snakebites are reported annually. A large number of people are injured and die due to snake venom poisoning. However, several fatal snake venom toxins have found potential uses as diagnostic tools, therapeutic agent, or drug leads. In this review, different non-enzymatically active snake venom toxins which have potential therapeutic properties such as antitumor, antimicrobial, anticoagulating, and analgesic activities will be discussed.

Keywords

Snake; Therapeutic; Toxin; Venom.

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