Conotoxins that confer therapeutic possibilities.

ABSTRACT: Cone snails produce a distinctive repertoire of venom peptides that are used both as a defense mechanism and also to facilitate the immobilization and digestion of prey. These peptides target a wide variety of voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels, which make them an invaluable resource for studying the properties of these ion channels in normal and diseased states, as well as being a collection of compounds of potential pharmacological use in their own right. Examples include the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pharmaceutical drug, Ziconotide (Prialt(®); Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) that is the synthetic equivalent of the naturally occurring ω-conotoxin MVIIA, whilst several other conotoxins are currently being used as standard research tools and screened as pote

SUBMITTER: Essack M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3397437 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature