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 In research they said could one day lead to a new class of potent
painkillers, the scientists focused on 206 species of spider and
searched for molecules in the venom that block nerve activity,
particular via so-called "Nav1.7 channels".
Experts estimate that as many as one in five people worldwide suffer
from chronic pain and existing pain treatments often fail to give
sufficient or long-term relief. Pain's economic burden is also huge,
with chronic pain estimated to cost $600 billion a year in the
United States alone.
People sense pain in a part of their body when nerves from the
affected area send signals to the brain through what is called the
pain pathway, and it is this pathway scientists seek to disrupt when
searching for potential new pain medicines.
"A compound that blocks Nav1.7 channels is of particular interest,"
said Glenn King, who led the study at Australia's University of
Queensland.
GENETIC MUTATION
He said previous research has found indifference to pain among
people who lack Nav1.7 channels due to a naturally-occurring genetic
mutation, so blocking these channels has the potential to turn off
pain in people with normal pathways.
Part of the search for new pain killing drugs has focused on the
world's 45,000 species of spiders, many of which kill their prey
with venoms that contain hundreds and even thousands of protein
molecules, some of which block nerve activity.
"A conservative estimate indicates that there are nine million
spider-venom peptides, and only 0.01 percent of this vast
pharmacological landscape has been explored so far," said Julie Kaae
Klint, who worked with King on the study.
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The researchers, whose work was published on Thursday in the British
Journal of Pharmacology, built a system that could rapidly analyze
spider venom compounds. They screened venoms from 206 species and
found that 40 percent contained at least one compound that blocked
human Nav1.7 channels.
Of the seven promising compounds they identified, they said one was
particularly potent and also had a chemical structure that suggested
it would have the kind of chemical, thermal and biological stability
needed for making a drug.
"Untapping this natural source of new medicines brings a distinct
hope of accelerating the development of a new class of painkillers,"
said Klint.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Ralph Boulton)
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