Marine cones are sea snails whose very powerful venom can paralyze prey in fractions of a second. While some species have already been studied and have a drug drawn from their venom, others still hold many secrets for scientists.
“The venoms of marine cones are a complex cocktail of several chemicals, and most of these toxins have been neglected in the past,” said Professor Paul Alewood quoted by eScienceNews. He and his team at the University of Queensland (Australia) carried out experiments on the marine cone venom Conus epscopatus. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), their study made it possible to identify new toxins hitherto unexploited in the pharmaceutical field.
To do this, the team used tools of biochemistry and bioinformatics to develop a new method of analyzing the venom and the toxins that compose it. In this way, the researchers were able to go further than before in the description of the elements.
Thanks to this very precise method, scientists have discovered the largest number of peptides ever observed in the venom of a species of marine cone. In total, 6 molecules could lead to therapeutic applications.
“We hope that these newly observed structures will lead to new drugs to treat pain, cancer and even other diseases,” enthuses Professor Alewood, co-author of the study. It remains to be demonstrated that these toxins are effective in humans and provide a major therapeutic advantage over existing drugs. But there is a good chance that it will, sincein March 2014, a study presented at the annual conference of the American Chemical Society (ACS) had shown that toxins from marine cones had an analgesic power 100 times more powerful than morphine, with arguably fewer side effects.
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