Scientists are uncovering new ways to treat diabetes and hormone-related disorders from an unlikely source: the venom of a highly poisonous creature.
Scientists are uncovering new ways to treat diabetes and hormone-related disorders from an unlikely source: the venom of a highly poisonous creature.
A global research team led by scientists from the University of Utah has discovered a component in the venom of the dangerous geography cone snail. This component resembles a human hormone called somatostatin, which helps control blood sugar levels and various hormones in the body. The specific and long-lasting effects of this hormone-like toxin, which aid the snail in capturing its prey, may also enable researchers to develop improved medications for individuals suffering from diabetes or hormone disorders, which can be severe and even life-threatening.
The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on August 20, 2024.
A design for superior medications
The toxin resembling somatostatin that the researchers investigated could be crucial in enhancing treatments for those with diabetes and hormonal imbalances.
Somatostatin functions like a brake in many bodily processes, preventing dangerously high levels of blood sugar, various hormones, and several other critical molecules. The research team found that the cone snail toxin, known as consomatin, operates in a comparable manner, but with greater stability and specificity than the human hormone, making it a potential model for developing new drugs.
By observing how consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells grown in a lab, the researchers discovered that consomatin binds to one of the same proteins that somatostatin does. However, while somatostatin interacts with several proteins, consomatin targets only one. This precise interaction allows the cone snail toxin to influence hormone and blood sugar levels without affecting various other molecules.
In fact, the cone snail toxin demonstrates a more precise targeting ability than the most advanced synthetic drugs intended to manage hormone levels, such as those used to control growth hormone. These synthetic drugs are vital for patients whose bodies produce excessive growth hormone. While consomatin’s impact on blood sugar levels could pose risks if used therapeutically, studying its structure could help devise drugs aimed at endocrine issues with fewer side effects.
Additionally, consomatin is not only more precise than leading synthetic drugs but also remains in the body much longer than the human hormone, thanks to a unique amino acid structure that resists breakdown. This characteristic is advantageous for scientists seeking to create medications with lasting effects.
Gleaning insights from cone snails
Though it may seem counterintuitive to explore deadly venoms for improved drug design, Dr. Helena Safavi, an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah and the study’s senior author, explains that the lethal nature of these toxins often comes from their ability to precisely target specific molecules in the victim’s body. This same accuracy can be incredibly beneficial in treating diseases.
“Venomous creatures have evolved to refine their venom components to precisely impact a target in their prey and disrupt its normal function,” Safavi states. “Isolating an individual component from the venom and investigating how it alters normal physiology can reveal pathways that are often significant in diseases.” For medicinal chemists, “it’s a bit of a shortcut.”
Consomatin and somatostatin share an evolutionary background, but over millions of years, the cone snail evolved its own hormone into a weapon.
For the fish that the cone snail preys upon, the lethal effects of consomatin are closely related to its ability to stop blood sugar levels from rising. Moreover, consomatin works in tandem with another toxin present in the snail’s venom that mimics insulin, which rapidly lowers blood sugar to the point where the prey becomes unresponsive. Consomatin then maintains those lowered blood sugar levels.
“We believe the cone snail developed this highly specific toxin to work alongside the insulin-like toxin to reduce blood glucose to significantly low levels,” explains Dr. Ho Yan Yeung, a postdoctoral biochemistry researcher and the study’s lead author.
The existence of multiple components within the cone snail’s venom that target blood sugar regulation suggests that the venom could contain several other molecules with similar properties. “This indicates that there might be additional toxins within the venom that have glucose-regulating capabilities,” says Yeung. Such toxins could assist in developing improved diabetes treatments.
While it may seem astonishing that a snail could outshine human chemists in drug design, Dr. Safavi points out that cone snails have had plenty of evolutionary time to perfect their methods. “We’ve been attempting medicinal chemistry and drug development for a few hundred years, often without success,” she notes. “Cone snails, on the other hand, have had plenty of time to do it exceedingly well.”
Or as Yeung succinctly puts it, “Cone snails are exceptional chemists.”
