Cone snails venom will work fine to treat diabetes in future: Latest News in 2021
Recently, research conducted by scientists has stated that the smooth mottled shells that are home to cone snails release potent insulin-like venom to fight against their predators. Curiosity has arisen among the scientists as they have seen an opportunity to use venom in order to cure diabetes among the patients.
The research was published in a journal titled ‘Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics Journal’.
Researchers have found that that the variants of the venoms that are secreted by the cone snails can be used for developing the fast-acting drugs that will provide a quick remedy to the problem of diabetes. The study was conducted by the researchers of the University of New Hampshire.
Harish Vashisth, associate professor of Chemical engineering has shared his thoughts regarding the objective of the research. He has stated that diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate and so it is important to find newer alternatives for developing effective and budget-friendly drugs for the patients who have been suffering from the disease.”
He further stated the research conducted by them has shown that the venoms excreted by the cone snails that are referred to as Con-Ins have bound faster to the receptors [present in the human body. This would also ensure that the snail secreted hormone has the potential to work faster on the body. Thus, this would stabilize the blood sugar level and provide the potential for new emerging therapeutics.
The researchers have also looked closely at the cone snail venom, also known as Con-Ins. The Con-Ins induced a hypoglycemic action that in turn reduced the blood sugar levels in the body. Unlike the structure of insulin, the cone snail secreted insulin varies in a great way. The venom’s peptide sequence is found to be shorter than binds to the insulin receptors in the human body. The scientists questioned the effectiveness of the venom because of the difference in the structure.
Further experiments were conducted by the scientists. The researchers used insulin-like peptides in the venom of the cone snail (C. geographus) as a template to model six different Con-Ins analogs. The newly created variants were made much shorter than the insulin made by the human body. The new variant latched the eight residues of the B-chain of the human insulin.
To study the stability and variability of the new variant, they have conducted multiple independent computer simulations of the new Con-In variant with the human insulin receptor in an optimum physiological condition. They have conducted the experiments taking into account the water solvent, the salinity of the solution, the temperature, and the pressure.
Did the Con-In variant from the Cone Snails work effectively in the human insulin receptors?
The scientists have derived a positive observation from the experiment that they have carried out designing the new variant of Con-In from Cone snails. They found that each insulin complex remained stable during the simulations and they formed better peptide bonds as compared to the insulins secreted by the human body. When the effectiveness of the variant was taken into account with respect to the insulin bound receptors it was observed that the Con-Ins variant exhibit many feasible substitutions in the human insulin.
They have concluded that despite the shorter peptide sequences the new variant of insulin derived from the cone snails can be used to cure the problem of diabetics. However, more studies have to be conducted regarding this matter. They have also stated that this would open doors to new acting drugs and motivate future designs.
What is the Insulin-like Venom that is released by the cone snails?
The insulin-like venom is secreted by the cone snails in response to the predators present in the environment. The venom is proved to be highly dangerous to the latter as they suffer from a hypoglycemic shock that immobilizes the fishes and their potential predators or even prey.
It has been found that C. geographus has the most toxic sting among the other species of the same genus and human fatalities have also been reported due to the secretion of insulin-like venom.
The funding for the research was provided by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institute of Health. The contents have not represented the National Institute of Health’s supervision.
Final Verdict:
Diabetes can be considered to be one of the diseases that is involved with the sedentary lifestyle of people. Almost one out of every third person owns the threat of diabetes. Con-Ins seems to have the potential for replacing the insulin that is available commercially or secreted by the human body. However, its dosage has to be determined to prevent the toxicity of the new variant.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
