Clinical Toxicology of Scorpion Stings
Jürg Meier, Julian White in Handbook of: Clinical Toxicology of Animal Venoms and Poisons, 2017
Atropine, neostigmine and steroids have been used in the past for treatment of scorpion envenomation, but they have not been proved to be of important clinical value in Centruroides and Tityus cases. Experimental data showed that atropine might potentiate the hypertensive effect and increase the severity of the pulmonary oedema induced by scorpion toxin in the rat43. However, if there is severe bradycardia (secondary to sinus arrest or any kind of atrioventricular block), atropine should be given (0.05 - 0.1 mg/kg). Application of drugs such as barbiturates or narcotics might increase central respiratory depression in scorpion envenomation.
Anti-Cancer Agents from Natural Sources
Rohit Dutt, Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Vandana Garg in Promising Drug Molecules of Natural Origin, 2020
Most scorpions are venomous arthropods and are found around the globe, except Antarctica. There are over 1,500 different scorpions’ species have been known so far. Early studies regarding scorpion venom have indicated anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties (Biswas et al., 2012). Subsequent research has reported that scorpion toxin might possess antineoplastic potential but controversy arose. In Cuba, there is a commercial anticancer drug namely Labiofam, generated with the venom extracted from blue scorpion, Rhopalurus juneus. The respective pharma company claimed that their product was tested on more than 10,000 cancer patients, showed positive results (Vidatox 30-CH, 2013). They registered the product under the name of Vidatox 30-CH, which is only found in Cuba. To validate their claim, Giovannini et al. (2017)evaluated Vidatox on HCC cells that include BRl-3, HepG2, and Snu449. In vivo, remarkable tumor growth was reported in Vidatox-treated mice which clearly invalidated the claim. Also, Vidatox-treated mice had a larger rate of liver degerneation in comparison to control. Furthermore, the company that sells Vidatox claims that their product prevents angiogenesis. The same study proved that Vidatox increased VEGFR2 expression, the gene responsible for initiation and propagation of angiogenesis. The final remarks indicate that Vidatrox is not effective to treat HCC type cancer patients rather it may cause negative effect. Currently, the venoms of the scorpion species that are under active investigation are the Androctonus crassicauda (AC), Androctonus bicolor (BC), and the Leiurus quinquestriatus (LQ). Antineoplastic efficacy of their venoms is believed to be enhanced using liposomes, small vesicles made up of phospholipids and lipids (Poy et al., 2016). Liposomal delivery is becoming an essential part of new medical drug discovery because it can successfully delivery drug in the target. In a study (Al-Asmari et al., 2017) scorpion venom was used to treat colorectal cancer with a nano-liposomal approach. The scorpion venom of choice was AC, BC, and LQ, while the colorectal cell line of choice used was HCT-8. Liposomes were prepared with the previously mentioned scorpion venom types. They report that venom-loaded liposomes demonstrated promising anticancer properties. The most notable points were apoptosis, and lower cancer cell survivability. HCT-8 was also treated with scorpion venom alone but lower efficacy was noted than nanoliposomal venom.
Kv1.3: a multifunctional channel with many pathological implications
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 2018
Antonio Serrano-Albarrás, Irene Estadella, Sergi Cirera-Rocosa, María Navarro-Pérez, Antonio Felipe
Other potential Kv1.3 blockers for autoimmune diseases include BmKTX-D33H, an analog of Buthusmartensi’s kaliotoxin (BmKTX) [20] and (N17A/F32T)-AnTx, an analog of the scorpion toxin anuroctoxin [21]. The use of these compounds is successful because Kv1.3 is so dominant in TEM lymphocytes that the concentration needed for the inhibition of this channel in these cells has no effect on leukocyte antimicrobial capabilities [5].
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