Arch Pharm (Weinheim)
Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil.
Published: November 2020
New drugs are constantly in demand, and nature's biodiversity is a rich source of new compounds for therapeutic applications. Synthetic peptides based on the transcriptome analysis of scorpion venoms of Tityus obscurus, Opisthacanthus cayaporum, and Hadrurus gertschi were assayed for their cytotoxic and antiretroviral activity. The Tityus obscurus scorpion-derived synthetic peptide (FFGTLFKLGSKLIPGVMKLFSKKKER), in concentrations ranging from 6.24 to 0.39 μM, proved to be the most active one against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication in the HUT-78 cell line and in primary human leukocytes, with the lowest toxicity for these cells. The immune cellular response evaluated in primary human leukocytes treated with the most promising peptide and challenged with SIV infection exhibited production of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and interferon-γ, which could be involved in cell defense mechanisms to overcome viral infection through proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways, similar to those evoked for triggering the mechanisms exerted by antiviral restriction factors.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ardp.202000151 | DOI Listing |
Toxicon
July 2023
Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:
There are several scorpion species of medical relevance around the world. Some of them are well characterized by their toxins and clinical outcomes. Brazilian Amazon has a great amount of these arthropods that have an impact in the scorpionism events specifically in this region of Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxicon
June 2023
Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia e Recursos Naturais da Amazônia, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA), Manaus, AM, Brazil.
Tityus obscurus has caused mild, moderate and severe accidents of medical relevance in the eastern Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana. Tityus obscurus has sexual dimorphism although males and females have uniform black coloration. In the Amazon, one of the habitats of this scorpion is seasonally flooded forests (igapós and várzeas).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Negl Trop Dis
February 2023
Diretoria de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Fundação Ezequiel Dias, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Opportunistic scorpion species can colonize urban environments, establishing high-density communities that enhance the chances of human accidents. This scenario has been taking place in Brazil, in which some Tityus species have taken city centers, causing an explosion in the number of scorpion envenoming cases. The characteristics of this scorpionism epidemic in Brazil is discussed in the present work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
January 2023
Instituto de Medicina Experimental, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela; Centro para el Desarrollo de la Investigación Científica, CEDIC, Asunción 1255, Paraguay. Electronic address:
Tityus cisandinus, a neglected medically important scorpion in Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia, belongs to a complex of species related to the eastern Amazon endemic Tityus obscurus, spanning a distribution of ca. 4000 km. Despite high morbidity and mortality rates, no effective scorpion antivenom is currently available in the Amazon region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxins (Basel)
October 2022
Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier de Cayenne, 97300 Cayenne, France.
Sixty-seven scorpion species have been described in France and its territories, where they have been found to be heterogeneously distributed. Indeed, only one species can be found on Réunion Island, while 38 species exist in French Guiana. The number of stings is also heterogenous, with up to 90 stings per 100,000 inhabitants occurring annually.
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