The deadly spider venom used for treating heart attacks

One day, our sick hearts may owe gratitude to a deadly spider. Scientists in Australia are about to begin a clinical trial on a drug for heart attacks originally derived from the venom of the funnel web spider K’gari.

While there are now several categories of drugs that can prevent or treat heart problems, heart and vascular diseases remain the leading cause of death. Therefore, any new treatments that can protect our hearts are still worth considering. Researchers at the University of Queensland and elsewhere believe they have identified such a candidate that was first isolated from the venom of the funnel web spider found on K’gari Island in Australia (formerly known as Fraser Island): a protein called Hi1a.

These spiders are believed to have some of the most deadly and complex toxins found in spiders at all, but only a handful of the 3000 proteins in their venom are considered completely lethal to humans, while others like Hi1a may have practical applications. Previous research conducted by the team on animals found evidence that Hi1a can protect the heart when deprived of oxygen during a heart attack. It seems to do so by preventing the signals that make heart cells self-destruct effectively when there is no oxygen around them. This same feature can also be used to improve the ability of donor hearts to survive during organ retrieval.

After receiving significant funding from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund, researchers are now ready to start a clinical trial for Hi1a to treat heart attacks and donor heart protection, expected to last four years.

Glen King, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, said: “MRFF funding will enable us to conduct human clinical trials to test a miniaturized version of Hi1a as a drug for treating heart attacks and protecting donor hearts during organ retrieval.” biological sciences, in a statement from the university. “If successful, it will improve patient survival and quality of life, significantly expand the available pool of donor hearts for transplantation, and greatly reduce healthcare costs.”

Many promising candidate drugs have failed to live up to their potential in human trials, either because they are not as effective as hoped in humans or because they are not as safe and acceptable as previous studies suggested. So it will take some time to find out if Hi1a is the real deal. But researchers are generally optimistic about the future of extracting new drugs from animal venoms, a field known as toxicology. Just last year, for example, scientists in Brazil began phase two of human trials to test their spider venom-derived drug as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. King and his team also hope to use Hi1a to treat strokes and certain forms of epilepsy.

Therefore, while spider venom may not give anyone superpowers, it could become a rich source of new and important medications.