Cone Snail, also known as "Taro Snail", is a highly poisonous sea creature because its tip hides a small opening that can quickly shoot out a poisonous needle from it to make its target scream. But this bad news for fish is a blessing for diabetics. New research suggests that the "weaponized insulin" produced by this marine organism is more effective than traditional drugs for treating high blood sugar.
In predation, some chicken heart snails secrete insulin, which is accompanied by other toxic components. When fish swim by, these toxic substances can cause their blood sugar to drop dramatically, putting the fish into a state where their blood sugar is too low. These overwhelmed fish easily become the prey of the chicken heart snail. That's why marine biologists call it "weaponized insulin."
In a new study published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (click on the bottom left corner to read the original article), research teams in Australia and the United States show that the submarine weapon could be harnessed to develop fast-acting drugs for the treatment of diabetes in humans. A molecular analysis of the venom of chicken heart snail shows its potential, which is faster than the best treatment currently used with rapid-reacting insulin, which can work within 5 minutes of entering the human body, and the best drugs do not work until 15 minutes later.
Helena Safavi, a biologist at the University of Utah, said: "The venom produced by animals can affect the physiology of prey, and this can be used as a starting point to find new inspiration from these venoms and use what has already been formed, which is a huge advantage." ”
Like chicken heart snails, humans also produce insulin. But humans do not use insulin as a venom, but to regulate blood sugar. When the body is unable to produce enough insulin (diabetes), it can lead to high blood sugar. To prevent this from happening, people with diabetes must receive synthetic insulin injections (natural insulin is produced by the pancreas).
Safavi and her colleagues found that the difference between insulin and human and synthetic insulin was that it lacked a molecular fragment that allowed it to adhere to other insulin molecules. This allows it to act quickly within the body, and tests using insulin receptors have shown that the insulin of chicken heart snail is not better than human insulin, but its rapid action ability makes it an alternative to future diabetes treatments. Of course, more experiments will be needed to verify how insulin works in humans and whether it can work as the researchers expected.
Safavi said: "People think it's easy to develop a drug. But where to start? First of all, we must think about what this drug should look like and what its characteristics are, so it is quite difficult to design a new drug. Her colleague Danny Chou also pointed out: "In fact, we should still learn from nature. ”
This public account is hosted by the Information Center of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
WeChat public account: China Biotechnology Network
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