Spider venom peptides as potential drug candidates due to their anticancer and antinociceptive activities

Abstract

Spider venoms are known to contain proteins and polypeptides that perform various functions including antimicrobial, neurotoxic, analgesic, cytotoxic, necrotic, and hemagglutinic activities. Currently, several classes of natural molecules from spider venoms are potential sources of chemotherapeutics against tumor cells. Some of the spider peptide toxins produce lethal effects on tumor cells by regulating the cell cycle, activating caspase pathway or inactivating mitochondria. Some of them also target the various types of ion channels (including voltage-gated calcium channels, voltage-gated sodium channels, and acid-sensing ion channels) among other pain-related targets. Herein we review the structure and pharmacology of spider-venom peptides that are being used as leads for the development of therapeutics against the pathophysiological conditions including cancer and pain.

New Insectotoxin from Tibellus Oblongus Spider Venom Presents Novel Adaptation of ICK Fold

“…The targets of these peptides are ion channels, such as voltage-gated sodium channels [ 4 , 5 ], potassium channels [ 6 , 7 ], calcium channels [ 8 , 9 ], acid-sensing ion channels [ 10 ], transient receptor potential (TRP) [ 11 , 12 ], and purinergic ion channels (P2X) [ 13 , 14 ]. Natural molecules from spider venoms are considered as potential therapeutics against pathophysiological conditions including cancer and pain, and for the development of novel bioinsecticides for agricultural use [ 15 , 16 ].…”

An Economic Dilemma between Molecular Weapon Systems May Explain an Arachno-Atypical Venom in Wasp Spiders (Argiope bruennichi)

“…It has been estimated that the sum of all spider venoms could ultimately yield 10 million bioactive molecules, but only 0.02% of this diversity has been discovered thus far [14,15]. Several promising drug candidates for stroke, pain, cancer and neural disorders have been identified in spider venoms [16][17][18][19]. The major components of these spider venoms are low-molecular-weight inhibitor cysteine knot (ICK) peptides with robust tertiary structures conferred by the presence of a pseudoknot motif of interweaved disulfide bonds [13,20,21].…”

An Anti-Cancer Peptide LVTX-8 Inhibits the Proliferation and Migration of Lung Tumor Cells by Regulating Causal Genes’ Expression in p53-Related Pathways

“…Natural venom, from spiders, insects, snakes and scorpions, is a valuable source for the development of anti-cancer drugs [4][5][6][7]. For example, multiple spider venom components show potential therapeutic activity against cancer, including lung cancer [8][9][10]. Furthermore, naturally occurring anticancer peptides (ACPs), and the corresponding information of sequence structure, provide significant references for the creation of new ACPs in therapeutic applications [11,12].…”