Most people are at least a little afraid of snakes, scorpions, or spiders. This is because evolutionarily, we’ve learned to fear animals that can harm us, and these are some of the most dangerous- some able to take down creatures many times their size with a single bite. These animals use venom, a toxic mixture of proteins and peptides that works in different ways to kill prey. Some kinds of venom affect the nervous system, causing paralysis. Others alter the blood, causing clots to form and stop the heart or by preventing clotting and leading the victim to bleed to death. Venom can contain hundreds of different toxins all working in different ways to be sure prey is finished off effectively. Each of these toxins has a different desired effect, and works on a different part of the body’s molecular makeup. This means that if the toxins can be isolated and “edited” to cooperate with the human body, they can actually be used to combat certain illnesses. These once frightening animals are well on their way to becoming heroes in the medical world.
1. Eastern Green Mamba
The venom of the eastern green mamba, which is designed to stop blood circulation, can lower blood pressure when combined with a peptide from human blood vessels to create a drug called cenderitide.
2. Vampire Bat
The vampire bat's venom may not be deadly, but it does contain anticoagulants that help keep an animal's blood from clotting while it feeds. These anticoagulants may be useful in helping stroke victims recover.
3. Sun Anemone
The toxins used by the sun anemone are stored in stinging cells called nematocysts. In the 1990s, these stinging cells were found to contain a peptide that reduces inflammation. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine used this peptide to develop one called ShK-186, which is now being further developed by a company called Kineta to potentially fight autoimmune diseases.
4. Gila Monster
The gila monster is a desert-dwelling lizard that eats only a few times each year, but manages to regulate its blood sugar during long periods with no food. Its venom provides a drug called Exenatide, which regulates blood sugar and reduces appetite. Since the drug was discovered in 1992, it has been used to help diabetic patients produce their own insulin and lose weight.
5. Cone Snail
Cone snails use toxins that stop nerve processes in fish in order to stun and consume them. Since the stunning toxins can be isolated, they can be used to create pain medicines such as Ziconotide, which is a very strong, morphine-like drug. Other toxins produced by cone snails may help with the treatment of depression, nicotine addiction, and Alzheimer’s.
6. Giant Deathstalker Scorpion
The giant deathstalker scorpion’s venom contains a neurotoxin that latches on to brain cancer cells, which allows surgeons to see the tumor cells much more clearly than they could with magnetic resonance imaging, which can only detect cancerous cells by the billions. There is a possibility that with further development, this toxin-derived marker may be able to help locate other kinds of cancer, saving millions of lives.
7. Peruvian Green Velvet Tarantula
A 2014 Yale University study found that a toxin in the green velvet tarantula's venom can block chronic pain, and may be a less addictive alternative to current available painkillers. Other spiders may also be able to help- researchers have found at least 82 species of spiders have nerve-blocking venom that could help create new painkillers.
