The scientific community has known for a long time the potential of potion From cone snails (conidia), hunters of fish and other molluscs in deep marine waters. Your toxin contains compounds that are converted into drugs to treat chronic painThe diabetes the others human pathologies. But this poison hid other secrets.
In a new study published in the journal advances in sciencea team of researchers has shown that a group of cone snails produce a venom compound similar to somatostatinan inhibitory human hormone that can be used to treat growth disordersThe pancreasThe pain and the inflammation.
“It’s a hormone that has so many different functions in the human body,” he says. Helena Safavi-Hemamiadjunct professor of University of Utah in the USA and associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and co-author of the work. “It always blocks something, so it’s been an interesting hormone for drug development for a long time,” he emphasizes.
was the researcher Iris Bea Ramirogives University of Copenhagenwho discovered the new peptide in one of eight groups of hunting snails, the least known, the cones Asprela. Ramiro focused on cone rolaniThe Roland’s conelooking for some unusual compound in your toxin, and found one.
The little peptide of the venom caused the mice to act slowly or not respond. But it was slow-acting, an effect hardly expected, as other cone snails produced poisons that acted almost immediately. From that first moment, he noticed that it had some similarities with the somatostatin hormone.
Scientists have determined that somehow cone snails take some of these hormones and turn them into weapons. So the University of Utah team helped Ramiro compare the compound they found, which they called Consomatin Ro1, with known human proteins.
Researcher Bea Ramiro in the Philippines. / Helena Safavi
How does the new compound work?
Frank Whitby, Research Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, used X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of Consomatine Ro1. “This was an important contribution because it showed that Consomatin Ro1 does not resemble somatostatin, but rather a somatostatin analogue drug called octreotide,” he explains. Christopher Hillbiochemistry teacher.
Meanwhile, the research team also collaborated with local fishermen from Zebuan island near Bohol, in Philippines, to bring Asprella specimens to the laboratory to observe their behavior and learn more about their biochemistry. It took the expert a year to confirm that the peptide she had originally isolated from ç. roll it activated two of the five human somatostatin receptors “with unique selectivity,” he says.
But scientists have wondered: how can a hormone like somatostatin work as a poison weapon, especially when acting slow? As a somatostatin analogue, Consomatin Ro1 is structured with a short, stable molecule that is effective at the receptors it targets.
For researchers, this reflects the very process of evolution: Cone snails probably started using their own somatostatin in their venom and then, through generations of trial and error, perfected the compound to obtain the maximum efficiency.
However, the authors now need to determine whether Consomatin Ro1 is more effective than analogue drugs to somatostatin that are already marketed to treat growth disorders or tumors.
“The advantage of cone snails is that there are many species,” says Safavi. “And we know that many of these species produce somatostatin, so the chances of finding the best analogue could be quite high.”
Reference:
Iris Bea Ramiro et al. “Somatostatin venom analogues evolved by fish-hunting snails: from prey-capturing behavior to drug clue identification” advances in science
