Researchers have obtained a painkiller from the venom of a sea snail. It is said to be much more powerful than morphine, with fewer side effects, especially addictive ones.
Nature certainly conceals many mysteries … Researchers have discovered that the venom of a species of marine cone produces proteins with analgesic properties. An Australian team presented on March 16, at the Congress of the American Society of Chemistry (ACS), a first drug derived from this venom.
100 times more powerful
Treating chronic pain, when it is of nervous origin, is currently a problem for doctors. Sharp pains, stimulated by an injury, subside over time. But patients with chronic neuropathic suffering (diabetes, multiple sclerosis …) have a damaged nervous system. Their suffering can therefore last for several months or years. The treatments available to manage pain, in addition to relieving only one in three patients, have many side effects. This is why the researchers tried to define a new drug, derived from the venom of the marine cone.
These marine snails produce venom to paralyze the small fish they hunt. Very potent, it contains small proteins known as conotoxins. In humans, they have analgesic effects. A test carried out on laboratory rats exceeded the team’s hopes: a drug derived from conotoxins was shown to be 100 times more potent than morphine or gabapentin, two treatments for chronic pain. “This is an important additional step, which could guide the development of a new class of drugs capable of relieving the most severe forms of chronic pain, which are still difficult to treat”, explains Dr David. Craik.
Less addictive
Another advantage of conotoxins: they are less addictive than other available treatments. Indeed, it does not act on the same receptors in the brain as morphine. “We do not yet know the side effects [du traitement] since it has not yet been tested on humans, ”admits Dr Craik. “The mechanism is completely different from morphine, so we think the possibility of this drug producing side effects is minimal. This is one of the main advantages of this drug. “
But these proteins are easily assimilated by the body and therefore cannot be ingested in oral form. The only drug derived from conotoxins available on the market is administered invasively: it is injected at the base of the spine. The team is therefore working on the development of a new treatment, in oral form. To do this, the researchers changed the structure of the proteins to make them circular, so that the body’s enzymes did not attack them.
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