New research has found that venom extracted from a species of marine cone snail could hold the key to developing 'ultra-fast-acting' insulins, leading to more efficient therapies for diabetes management.
Researchers from Australia and the US have successfully determined the three-dimensional structure of a cone snail venom insulin, revealing how these highly efficient natural proteins called Con-Ins G1 can operate faster than human insulin.
The teams also discovered that Con-Ins G1 was able [to] bind to human insulin receptors, signifying the potential for its translation into a human therapeutic.
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Snail Venom Holds Key to Better Diabetes Treatments
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday September 14 2016, @03:41PM
At least they provide some credit to their Aussie counterparts in the article. Here is what I found relating to what I remembered from before:
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2015/01/insulin-a-secret-ingredient-in-cone-snail-venom/ [australiangeographic.com.au]
It has been news for some time that the cone snail was able to put creatures into a diabetic coma or a hypoglycemic shock of some kind depending on the size of what got bit; there was important research back then, too Most of the search engines seem to point to the new release.
At least it sounds like new treatments are being pursued rather than simply noting the novel approach the snail venom has for turning things into prey.
(Score: 2) by fishybell on Wednesday September 14 2016, @11:04PM
Ah cone snails, what better way is there to die [nationalgeographic.com] than via a snail?