Mother Nature is one of the deadliest forces that people experience outside of the comfort of their homes. Whether it’s natural disasters or animals, it always seems like something is trying to kill something else. In a world where self-defense is one of the most important aspects of a creature’s survival, an adaptive toolkit is one of the greatest feats that an animal can develop. Despite the vastness of unique animals, a large number of reptiles, amphibians, and even mammals have developed a deadly weapon: venom and poison. Despite the inherent risk of picking up a colorful frog or approaching a startled platypus, however, these creatures may eventually save more lives than they take.
The boomslang is a highly venomous snake native to Sub-Saharan Africa. These snakes hunt up in the canopies of trees where other creatures—such as chameleons—attempt to avoid being seen. The snake will sink its fangs into the chameleon, sending a rush of poisonous venom into its body. The venom starts to rupture red blood cells, causing massive amounts of internal bleeding and stopping the creature’s heart. Similarly, the copperhead snake produces its own venom containing the protein “contortrostatin.” Although the venom from the copperhead is equally deadly, the right application of this protein could save the lives of more than 400,000 patients with cancer.
Results in studies of venom have shown a potential for breast cancer treatment. Much like current treatments, the goal of fighting cancer is to limit the spread and attack the cancerous cells, all while protecting the healthy ones. Introducing the venom from the cottonmouth not only reduced growth of the primary targeted breast cancer by 70-80%, but it also inhibited further spreading of the cancer into the lungs.
In a separate use case, scientists noticed the effect that the eastern brown snake’s venom had on blood it had reacted with. During serious car accidents, the most dangerous factor is the loss of blood. After the human body loses 40% of its blood, it begins to shut down, and this can happen within one minute after the accident. The compounds in eastern brown snake venom can completely shut down the body’s de-clotting agents, meaning a spray of the clotting agent from the venom could buy crucial time that someone may not have had without it.
Snake venom has also already been derived to create common medicines. Captopril was the first oral medicine that could prevent blood vessels from tightening, thereby reducing high blood pressure. It also has use cases in treating kidney problems that stem from diabetes, and its creation followed the research and study of venom from a pit viper. Eptifibatide (Integrilin) is another medicine that prevents platelet aggregation, which can often lead to heart attacks, and its properties were based on the study of pygmy rattlesnake venom.
While highly dangerous creatures such as snakes may come off as entirely deadly, it is the fatal tool they possess that has already saved countless lives. Since different types of venom from various creatures are so complex, there are likely worlds more to uncover. Further research into this field will likely lead to countless discoveries that will expand the field of medicine and make the world even safer to live in.
