Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Mar;12(2):231-9.

Neuroprotective and cardioprotective conopeptides: an emerging class of drug leads

Vernon D Twede  1 , George Miljanich, Baldomero M Olivera, Grzegorz Bulaj
Affiliations
Review

Neuroprotective and cardioprotective conopeptides: an emerging class of drug leads

Vernon D Twede et al. Curr Opin Drug Discov Devel. 2009 Mar.

Abstract

The peptides in the venoms of predatory marine snails belonging to the genus Conus ('cone snails') have well-established therapeutic applications for the treatment of pain and epilepsy. This review discusses the neuroprotective and cardioprotective potential of four families of Conus peptides (conopeptides), including omega-conotoxins that target voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, conantokins that target NMDA receptors, mu-conotoxins that target voltage-gated Na+ channels, and kappa- and kappaM-conotoxins that target K+ channels. The diversity of Conus peptides that have already been shown to exhibit neuroprotective/cardioprotective activity suggests that marine snail venoms are a potentially rich source of drug leads with diverse mechanisms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Diversity of cone shells and families of conopeptides with neuroprotective/cardioprotective properties
A The shells of three species of Conus snail (left to right: Conus magus, Conus imperialis, Conus geographus). B Conus peptide families that have been shown to exhibit neuroprotective/cardioprotective potential, and the ion channel targets in the nervous system of each peptide family.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Structural diversity of neuroprotective conopeptides that have entered clinical trials
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Olivera BM, Teichert RW. Diversity of the neurotoxic Conus peptides: A model for concerted pharmacological discovery. Mol Interv. 2007;7(5):251–260. - PubMed
    1. Han TS, Teichert RW, Olivera BM, Bulaj G. Conus venoms – a rich source of peptide-based therapeutics. Curr Pharm Des. 2008;14(24):2462–2479. - PubMed
    1. Teichert RW, Jimenez EC, Twede V, Watkins M, Hollmann M, Bulaj G, Olivera BM. Novel conantokins from Conus parius venom are specific antagonists of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors. J Biol Chem. 2007;282(51):36905–36913. - PubMed

    2. • The first example of a successful application of the phylogenetic analysis to discover new members of the conantokin family of Conus peptides This strategy is likely to result in the identification of many new neuroprotective compounds that act via NMDA receptors.

    1. Miljanich GP. Ziconotide: Neuronal calcium channel blocker for treating severe chronic pain. Curr Med Chem. 2004;11:3029–3040. - PubMed
    1. Ellison M, Olivera BM. α4/3 Conotoxins: Phylogenetic distribution, functional properties, and structure-function insights. Chem Rec. 2007;7(6):341–353. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources