Applications of snake venoms in treatment of cancer

• Published in: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
• Main Author: Vagish Kumar Laxman Shanbhag
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015
• Subjects: Snake venoms; Cancer; Management; Biotoxins; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2221-1691(15)30344-0; https://doaj.org/article/80cf1044811a4420be9bd93cb5e15003

Snake venoms are folk medicines used since ages. The components of snake venoms have high specific affinity and actions on cells and cell components. Also snake venoms are largely cytotoxic to tumor cells than normal cells. In addition to these, they have several therapeutic actions that make them an attractive option in the management of cancer. The advent of modern technologies has greatly helped in extracting and identifying new components of therapeutic interests in short time. The article highlights the importance of snake venoms in the management of cancer, so as to motivate curious researchers to devote their skills in this fascinating area. This in turn may bring hope, smile and relief to several cancer patients in future.