spider-venom peptides as therapeutics蜘蛛毒液肽作为治疗.pdfVIP

Toxins 2010, 2, 2851-2871; doi:10.3390/toxins2122851 OPEN ACCESS toxins ISSN 2072-6651 /journal/toxins Review Spider-Venom Peptides as Therapeutics Natalie J. Saez, Sebastian Senff, Jonas E. Jensen, Sing Yan Er, Volker Herzig, Lachlan D. Rash and Glenn F. King * Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia; E-Mails: n.saez@.au (N.J.S.); s.senff@.au (S.S.); j.jensen@ .au (J.E.J.); s.er@.au (S.Y.E.); v.herzig@.au (V.H.); l.rash@.au (L.D.R.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: glenn.king@.au; Tel.: 61-7-3346-2025; Fax: 61-7-3346-2021. Received: 16 November 2010; in revised form: 17 December 2010 / Accepted: 17 December 2010 / Published: 20 December 2010 Abstract: Spiders are the most successful venomous animals and the most abundant terrestrial predators. Their remarkable success is due in large part to their ingenious exploitation of silk and the evolution of pharmacologically complex venoms that ensure rapid subjugation of prey. Most spider venoms are dominated by disulfide-rich peptides that typically have high affinity and specificity for particular subtypes of ion channels and receptors. Spider venoms are conservatively predicted to contain more than 10 million bioactive peptides, making them a valuable resource for drug discovery. Here we review the structure and pharmacology of spider-venom peptides that are being used as leads for