Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs

For decades, natural products in general and snake venoms (SV) in particular have been a rich source of bioactive compounds for drug discovery, and they remain a promising substrate for therapeutic development. Currently, a handful of SV-based drugs for diagnosis and treatment of various cardiovascu...

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Authors: Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991-; Defaus, Sira; Andreu Martínez, David
Format: Article
Status:Published version
Publication date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/44439
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44439
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins12040255
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Anticancer peptides
Antimicrobial peptides
Cathelicidin
Crotamine
Defensin
Snake venom peptides
Snake venom proteins
Snake venoms
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author Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991-
author2 Defaus, Sira
Andreu Martínez, David
author2_role author
author
author_browse Andreu Martínez, David
Defaus, Sira
Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991-
author_facet Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991-
Defaus, Sira
Andreu Martínez, David
author_role author
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
description For decades, natural products in general and snake venoms (SV) in particular have been a rich source of bioactive compounds for drug discovery, and they remain a promising substrate for therapeutic development. Currently, a handful of SV-based drugs for diagnosis and treatment of various cardiovascular disorders and blood abnormalities are on the market. Likewise, far more SV compounds and their mimetics are under investigation today for diverse therapeutic applications, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria and cancer. In this review, we analyze the state of the art regarding SV-derived compounds with therapeutic potential, focusing on the development of antimicrobial and anticancer drugs. Specifically, information about SV peptides experimentally validated or predicted to act as antimicrobial and anticancer peptides (AMPs and ACPs, respectively) has been collected and analyzed. Their principal activities both in vitro and in vivo, structures, mechanisms of action, and attempts at sequence optimization are discussed in order to highlight their potential as drug leads.
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
format article
id ES_e155ba12102c297ea0c6b9d3bf4ebeeb
institution Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
oai_identifier_str oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/44439
publishDate 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher MDPI
publisherStr MDPI
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
spelling Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991- Defaus, Sira Andreu Martínez, David Anticancer peptides Antimicrobial peptides Cathelicidin Crotamine Defensin Snake venom peptides Snake venom proteins Snake venoms For decades, natural products in general and snake venoms (SV) in particular have been a rich source of bioactive compounds for drug discovery, and they remain a promising substrate for therapeutic development. Currently, a handful of SV-based drugs for diagnosis and treatment of various cardiovascular disorders and blood abnormalities are on the market. Likewise, far more SV compounds and their mimetics are under investigation today for diverse therapeutic applications, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria and cancer. In this review, we analyze the state of the art regarding SV-derived compounds with therapeutic potential, focusing on the development of antimicrobial and anticancer drugs. Specifically, information about SV peptides experimentally validated or predicted to act as antimicrobial and anticancer peptides (AMPs and ACPs, respectively) has been collected and analyzed. Their principal activities both in vitro and in vivo, structures, mechanisms of action, and attempts at sequence optimization are discussed in order to highlight their potential as drug leads. MDPI http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44439 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins12040255
spellingShingle Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
Pérez-Peinado, Clara, 1991-
Anticancer peptides
Antimicrobial peptides
Cathelicidin
Crotamine
Defensin
Snake venom peptides
Snake venom proteins
Snake venoms
status_str publishedVersion
title Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
title_full Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
title_fullStr Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
title_full_unstemmed Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
title_short Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
title_sort Hitchhiking with nature: snake venom peptides to fight cancer and superbugs
topic Anticancer peptides
Antimicrobial peptides
Cathelicidin
Crotamine
Defensin
Snake venom peptides
Snake venom proteins
Snake venoms
topic_facet Anticancer peptides
Antimicrobial peptides
Cathelicidin
Crotamine
Defensin
Snake venom peptides
Snake venom proteins
Snake venoms
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44439
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins12040255