The toxic bite of a gila monster can kill a human being, but a specific ingredient in the cocktail From the poison of the lizard is the reason why we have Glucagon-like peptide agonists (GLP-1) like Ozepic and Wegovy.
In the late twentieth century, the endocrinologist Daniel printer was looking for a hormone sufficiently similar to the GLP-1 Do Intestino Humanowho had similar qualities of Appetite suppression and from Blood sugar regulationwithout being decomposed by the human body so quickly.
Drucker had read about the endocrinologist’s work John aof the gastroenterologist Jean-Pierre RAUFMAN and the biochemical John Pisanowho had sequenced the proteins of the poison of the Gila monster (HELOPERMA suspicious) and found two who resembled the human LPG-1.
According to, Drucker and his team from the University of Toronto acquired a Gila monster from the Utah Zoo Reproduction Program for the dissect and deepen the investigation.
This work confirmed that the unique genes of the lizard species produce a protein, the Exendin-4that fits the objective, imitating the GLP-1 e remaining in the human body for much longer.
In the following years, it was a synthetic version createdbut it was necessary to wait until 2005 so that this agonist (a substance capable of connecting to a cell receiver and activating it to cause a biological response) of the GLP to become a FDA -approved treatment for type 2 diabetes.
Currently, it has also become a Popular treatment for obesitywith potentials on the horizon.
This is not the only time we resort to the chemical arsenal of toxic animals. One of the best selling medicines in the world has origin in the poison of a snake. O lisinopril It reduces chemicals that contract blood flow, which is why it is prescribed for high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and heart attack survivors.
But the creator of his natural form, the Brazilian (BOTHROPs Jararaca), evolved to produce enzyme inhibitors that help the poison to spread gently through the condemned body of its prey.
As Sea Sponges They are among the oldest animals on the planet, so they had a lot of time to cook some interesting molecules. THE Caribbean Sponge (Tectitethya crypt) Produces nucleoside strangers which, instead of an immune system, protects it from the strange DNA attack introduced into its sessil body by predators and prey as it feeds on filtration.
These nucleosides served as inspiration for the drug chemotherapy, which is part of the list of WHO essential medicines for use in the treatment of Lymphoma not hodgkin and from leukemia.
As animal toxins They are also revealing useful in treating other cancers. In 2004, the oncologist Jim Olson He was dismayed to find that even after 14 hours surgery to remove a tumor from a teenager’s brain, a piece of the size of a thumb had been left behind.
Gathered a team to find a molecule that would help surgeons to see the cancers with the naked eye And thanks to the new DNA databases, they were able to find a suitable candidate on a matter of weeks. Its unlikely origin? The poison of one of the most dangerous scorpions on earth, the deathstalker (Ceiurus quinquestriatus).
Isolated, the chlorotoxin Cy5.5 peptide had already been found to connect to ionic channels into brain tumor cells, but not in normal human cells.
The version produced in the laboratory, Tozualistscreates a kind of light “ink” in the near infrared that allowed investigators see carcinogens as small as a few hundred cells in studies with rodents.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
