Venenos de serpientes y moléculas antiveneno

Venom snake bites can produce hemorrhages (caused by SVMPs), myonecrosis (caused by PLAs) and pain. Annually, 50,000 of these bytes are fatal, especially in the tropics. Conventional therapies with immunoglobulins are only partially effective and can produce adverse immune effects. Hence natural antivenom proteins from mammals, which are potentially more effective and secure, are being studied [Opossum’s (Maruspialia: Didelphis) DM43 (antihemorrhagin) and DM64 (antimyotoxic protein)]. Moreover, venom PLAs and SVMPs have nonvenom normal endogen counterparts (PLAs y MMPs) in animals like humans, and when the balance between the latter and their inhibitors is disrupted, the following pathologies can happen: arthritis, arteriosclerosis, asthma, diabetes, septic shocks, neoplasias, inflammations, psoriasis, rheumatism, etc. Additionally to this medical aspects, snake and their venom systems evolution is reviewed, and it is concluded that there are research opportunities, in (among other topics): the paraphyletic and very diverse “colubridae”; “evolutionary arms races’’ between snakes and their prey; the unusual (defies the neutral theory of molecular evolution) and accelerated evolution of snake venom molecules.