Deadly snail venom could be key to improving diabetes medicine

Scientists have discovered promising clues for treating diabetes and hormone disorders in an unexpected source: the venom of one of the world’s most toxic creatures, the marine cone snail. 

A research team led by scientists from the University of Utah has identified a component in the venom of the geography cone, a species of cone snail, that mimics a human hormone known as somatostatin. This hormone regulates blood sugar levels and various hormones in the body. 

Snail venom as a blueprint 

The snail’s venom, which has evolved to assist in hunting prey, could potentially offer a blueprint for developing more effective drugs to treat diabetes and hormone-related conditions, which can be severe and life-threatening.

The venom component identified by the researchers, named consomatin, could be key to improving medications for managing diabetes and hormone disorders. 

In humans, somatostatin acts as a regulator, preventing blood sugar and hormone levels from rising to dangerous levels. The cone snail’s consomatin behaves similarly but is more stable and precise than the human hormone, making it a promising model for drug development.

Precise targeting of snail venom

The researchers conducted experiments to see how consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells. They discovered that while somatostatin interacts with multiple proteins, consomatin specifically targets only one. 

This precise targeting means that the toxin from the cone snail can influence hormone and blood sugar levels without affecting many other molecules in the body.

Notably, consomatin’s precision surpasses even the most advanced synthetic drugs currently used to regulate hormone levels, such as those used to control growth hormone. These drugs are vital for treating individuals whose bodies produce excessive growth hormone. 

While consomatin’s effect on blood sugar might make it unsuitable for direct therapeutic use, its structure could inspire the creation of drugs for endocrine disorders with fewer side effects.

Valuable insights for drug development 

Moreover, consomatin has another advantage: it remains active in the body much longer than human somatostatin due to the presence of an unusual amino acid that makes it resistant to breakdown. This durability is a valuable trait for pharmaceutical researchers aiming to develop drugs that provide prolonged benefits.

The idea of finding new drugs by studying deadly venoms might seem counterintuitive. However, the precision of these venoms in targeting specific molecules can be highly useful in treating diseases, noted Helena Safavi, an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah’s Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine (SFESOM) and the senior author of the study.

“Venomous animals have, through evolution, fine-tuned venom components to hit a particular target in the prey and disrupt it,” said Professor Safavi. This specificity, when isolated and studied, often reveals pathways that are highly relevant in disease treatment. For medicinal chemists, this can serve as a significant shortcut in drug development.

Snail venom and blood sugar regulation 

Consomatin, while related to somatostatin, has been modified by millions of years of evolution to serve as a potent weapon for the cone snail. The snail uses this toxin to disrupt its prey’s blood sugar regulation, rendering the prey incapacitated.

The research team had previously discovered that the cone snail’s venom includes another toxin similar to insulin, which rapidly lowers blood sugar levels, making the prey unresponsive. Consomatin then keeps the blood sugar levels low, preventing recovery.

“We think the cone snail developed this highly selective toxin to work together with the insulin-like toxin to bring down blood glucose to a really low level,” said Ho Yan Yeung, a postdoctoral researcher at SFESOM and the study’s first author.

Broader implications of the study 

The presence of multiple toxins in the snail’s venom that target blood sugar regulation suggests that there may be even more compounds with similar properties waiting to be discovered. These could potentially be used to design better medications for diabetes.

It might be surprising that a snail can outperform human chemists in designing effective drugs, but as Professor Safavi points out, the cone snails have had millions of years to perfect their biochemistry. 

“We’ve been trying to do medicinal chemistry and drug development for a few hundred years, sometimes badly,” she said. “Cone snails have had a lot of time to do it really well.”

Or, as Yeung aptly concludes, “cone snails are just really good chemists.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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