Medical and diagnostic applications of snake venom proteomes

Abstract

Snake venom is a highly toxic secretion produced and stored in specialized salivary glands of snakes which constitutes a vast array of biologically-active compounds, such as enzymes, proteins, peptides and low molecular weight compounds. These substances target an immense number of receptors and membrane proteins as well as coagulation proteins with high affinity, selectivity and potency, and can serve as potential drugs or scaffolds for drug design. During the recent years, much attention has been given to understand the mechanism of action of complex venom proteins for the development of novel drugs and therapeutic agents to treat life-threatening diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, thrombosis, arthritis, microbial infections and hypertension etc. Further, snake venom components have found uses in the diagnosis of haemostatic disorders. This paper reviews the various biomedical applications of snake venom proteins in terms of therapeutic and diagnostic values.