Spider venomics: implications for drug discovery

• Published in: Future medicinal chemistry Vol. 6; no. 15; p. 1699
• Main Authors: Pineda, Sandy S, Undheim, Eivind A B, Rupasinghe, Darshani B, Ikonomopoulou, Maria P, King, Glenn F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.10.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Calcium Channels - chemistry; Calcium Channels - metabolism; Drug Discovery; Protein Isoforms - antagonists & inhibitors; Protein Isoforms - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins - biosynthesis; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Spider Venoms - chemistry; Spider Venoms - genetics; Spider Venoms - metabolism; Spiders - metabolism; Structure-Activity Relationship; Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels - chemistry; Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels - metabolism
• ISSN: 1756-8927
• DOI: 10.4155/FMC.14.103

Over a period of more than 300 million years, spiders have evolved complex venoms containing an extraordinary array of toxins for prey capture and defense against predators. The major components of most spider venoms are small disulfide-bridged peptides that are highly stable and resistant to proteolytic degradation. Moreover, many of these peptides have high specificity and potency toward molecular targets of therapeutic importance. This unique combination of bioactivity and stability has made spider-venom peptides valuable both as pharmacological tools and as leads for drug development. This review describes recent advances in spider-venom-based drug discovery pipelines. We discuss spider-venom-derived peptides that are currently under investigation for treatment of a diverse range of pathologies including pain, stroke and cancer.