Researchers at the University of Sydney and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have uncovered an astounding discovery: heparin, a blood thinner that is often used, may be utilised to make a low-cost counteragent for cobra venom.
Every year, hundreds of individuals are killed by cobra venom, and an estimated 100,000 more suffer severe injuries from necrosis, which is the loss of bodily tissue and cells and can result in amputation.
Our discovery could drastically reduce the terrible injuries from necrosis caused by cobra bites – and it might also slow the venom, which could improve survival rates,
Professor Greg Neely
The team, comprising scientists from Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, and the UK, successfully repurposed heparin, a common blood thinner, and related drugs, demonstrating that they can stop the necrosis caused by cobra bites. They did this by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify ways to block cobra venom.
Their findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Heparin is inexpensive, ubiquitous and a World Health Organization-listed Essential Medicine. After successful human trials, it could be rolled out relatively quickly to become a cheap, safe and effective drug for treating cobra bites.
Tian Du
Through the use of CRISPR, the team was able to identify the human genes required for the necrosis that kills the surrounding flesh when a cobra bites. Enzymes required for the production of the related chemicals heparan and heparin, which are produced by numerous human and animal cells, are the necessary venom targets. Heparin is secreted following an immune response, and heparan is found on the surface of cells. The venom can connect to both because of their comparable structures. Using this information, the scientists created an antidote that prevents necrosis in mice and human cells.
The heparinoid medications function as a “decoy” antidote, in contrast to modern antivenoms for cobra bites, which are products of 19th-century technology. The antidote can attach to and counteract the poisons in the venom that cause tissue damage by flooding the bite site with “decoy” heparin sulphate or similar heparinoid molecules.
Snakebites remain the deadliest of the neglected tropical diseases, with its burden landing overwhelmingly on rural communities in low- and middle-income countries,
Our findings are exciting because current antivenoms are largely ineffective against severe local envenoming, which involves painful progressive swelling, blistering and/or tissue necrosis around the bite site. This can lead to loss of limb function, amputation and lifelong disability.
Professor Nicholas Casewell
Up to 138,000 individuals are killed by snakebites annually, and an additional 400,000 suffer long-term effects from the bite. Although the exact number of cobra victims is unknown, most snakebite incidences in particular regions of Africa and India are caused by cobra species.
Snakebite has been designated as a priority by the World Health Organisation in its programme to combat neglected tropical illnesses. Its bold objective is to cut the number of snakebite cases worldwide in half by 2030.
That target is just five years away now. We hope that the new cobra antidote we found can assist in the global fight to reduce death and injury from snakebite in some of the world’s poorest communities.
Professor Greg Neelyht
Also, Read| Cobra’s Neurotoxic Venom | Details – Types, Effects, and Pharmacology
Professor Neely’s team at Dr. John and Anne Chong Laboratory for Functional Genomics at the Charles Perkins Centre use a methodical strategy to discover medications to cure venoms that are uncomfortable or lethal. It does this by identifying the genetic targets that venom or poison within humans and other creatures use using CRISPR. It then makes use of this information to create strategies to prevent this interaction and, hopefully, shield humans from these venoms’ lethal effects.
In 2019, the researchers employed this method to find a remedy for box jellyfish poison.
At the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), Professor Casewell serves as the director of the Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions. For more than 50 years, the centre has carried out a wide range of research projects to increase our knowledge of the biology of snake venoms and to enhance the effectiveness, security, and cost of antivenom therapy for victims of tropical snakebites. It has access to LSTM’s herbarium, the biggest and most varied collection of tropical poisonous snakes in the UK, and is home to some of the top specialists on snakebite worldwide.
Each year, the venom of cobras kills hundreds of people, and an estimated 100,000 more get serious damage from necrosis—the loss of body cells and tissue that can lead to amputation.
Source: The University of Sydney News
Journal Reference: Du, Tian Y., et al. “Molecular Dissection of Cobra Venom Highlights Heparinoids As an Antidote for Spitting Cobra Envenoming.” Science Translational Medicine, 2024, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adk48
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