Deadly snail venom may lead to new diabetes, cancer meds

Sam Ribakoff

(CN) — Despite their conventional name and colorful patterned shells, some cone snails are killers. Their venom not only paralyzes and kills their marine prey, but, depending on the species, they can even kill human beings.

But, according to researchers in a new study published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, the venom from the deadliest cone snail species — Conus geographus — could be used to treat diabetes, certain types of cancer and other hormone disorders.

Researchers discovered hormones called consomatin in the snail’s venom that mimic and act as a doppelganger for their prey’s hormones. The venom can also mimic a human hormone called somatostatin, which regulates the levels of blood sugar and other hormones in the body.

“It’s really amazing how a snail mimics not just one but two human hormones, insulin and somatostatin," Helena Safavi, associate professor of biochemistry in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, and the senior author of the study, wrote in an email. "These are of critical importance for regulating blood sugar and the snail uses them to bring blood sugar levels to a dangerously low level."

By measuring how consomatin interacts with somatostatins in human cells, the researchers found that with further study of the snail’s venom structure, has the potential be used to regulate growth hormone levels even better than synthetic drugs currently do.

"Because the venom hormones have features that are better than the human hormones, we can use them to make better drugs for various diseases, including diabetes and certain types of cancer. This highlights the power of venoms to discover new drug leads and the cunningness that venomous animals use to immobilize their prey," she added.

Cone snails catch and kill their prey, mostly consisting of worms, small fish, and other mollusks, by harpooning them with their tooth like radula that injects venom into their victims.

Conus geographus — the only kind of snail out of 800 to 1000 cone snail species that’s been tied to the deaths of humans — is also one of two species to use what’s called a “net hunting” strategy where the snail releases toxins in the water to decrease the motor activity and sedate other creatures around it.

The venom released acts as “weaponized insulins” that makes fish appear “under the influence of narcotic drugs which led to the term ‘nirvana cabal’ to describe this group of toxins,” the researchers write in the study.

Scientists have been researching various other venoms that other animals use that can pinpoint specific areas of their prey’s bodies, Safavi said.

Scientists can piggyback on those animal’s evolutionary fine tuning to combat diseases as “a bit of a shortcut,” she said in a statement accompanying the study.

“We’ve been trying to do medicinal chemistry and drug development for a few hundred years, sometimes badly,” Safavi added. “Cone snails have had a lot of time to do it really well.”