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OverviewFull Product DetailsAuthor: Glenn F King (The University of Queensland, Australia) , David E. Thurston , Bryan Fry , David AdamsPublisher: Royal Society of Chemistry Imprint: Royal Society of Chemistry Volume: Volume 42 Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.648kg ISBN: 9781849736633ISBN 10: 1849736634 Pages: 352 Publication Date: 10 February 2015 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print ![]() This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsVenomous animals: evolution and ecology; Chemistry and structural biology of animal venoms; Venoms-based drug discovery: proteomic and transcriptomic approaches; Venoms-based drug discovery: bioassays, high-throughput screens, and target identification; Reptile venoms as a platform for drug development; Cone snail venoms as a platform for drug development; Scorpion venoms as a platform for drug development; Spider-venom peptides as a platform for drug development; Case study 1: development of the analgesic drugs Prialt® and Xen2174; Case study 2: development of exenatide for treatment of type 2 diabetes; Case study 3: development of ShK for the treatment of autoimmune diseases; Development of venom natriuretic peptides for treating congestive heart failure; Engineering venom peptides to improve their stability and bioavailability; Manufacturing of venom-derived therapeutic peptides; Venoms to drugs: prospects and pitfallsReviewsBelonging to the RSC's Drug Discovery series, Venoms to Drugs is a welcome addition to the bookshelf designed to guide the reader through the opportunities and challenges to be found in Nature's treasure chest in the efforts to develop new therapeutic solutions to human maladies. Venoms have evolved to assist numerous animals with matters of defence or in catching prey-if you've been stung by a bee you'll have felt the power of a venom at work-and here we explore a little-tapped natural resource which could help provide the chemical foundations for the next big painkiller, antihypertensive or anti-inflammatory. Turning venom, consisting of a cocktail of toxins, from a potentially deadly secretion into a relatively safe, efficacious medicine is not simple. This book does not shy away from this fact, but embraces the problems and examines methods afforded by recent scientific advances through which the many challenges may be overcome. The book begins by introducing the drug-development opportunities provided by these natural resources, with an overview of the evolution of venoms across species and how many venom toxins retain a similar basic template upon which to pin their more specific functional flourishes for various targets and effects. We are given a detailed introduction to the obstacles met when turning these natural products into medicines, from the problems of retaining functionality to producing stable formulations. What stands out here in particular is that there are groups of animals whose venoms remain completely unexplored in terms of their therapeutic potential, and thus the scene is set for the rest of the book. The structure of the book is logical and the contents detailed, well-written and informative throughout. Chapters on approaches to drug discovery, taking into account advantages provided by recent technological advances, are followed by an examination of venoms as lead compounds from various animal orders in four further chapters. Later on, Chapters 9 and 10 describe the development of analgesic drugs and anti-inflammatory/autoimmune compounds from some extraordinary sea creatures, demonstrating good examples of the possibilities that may be found. The technical detail in the writing has not been lost or brushed over, which makes the book all-the-better as a useful resource. One aspect that is particularly good is the inclusion of case studies, to demonstrate how a carefully nurtured project can bear fruit. As always, there are chemical puzzles to solve, pharmacological mechanisms to pick apart and regulatory hurdles to jump, but from deadly cone-snail venom used to paralyse its prey comes the analgesic ziconatide, and from pit viper venom comes the ACE inhibitor captopril-one wonders what next might be found from a jellyfish's tentacles or a spider's jaws. If there is a sting in the tail in this particular story, then it is certainly to be extracted, analysed and put to good use! This book is, of course, targeted towards chemists as is clear from the detail and style throughout, but others with an interest in this subject (pharmacologists, electrophysiologists, formulation scientists and their kin) will certainly find this a useful, interesting and perhaps even thought-provoking resource to have at hand. -- Neil C. Henny, Liverpool John Moores University Chromatographia (2015) 78:1507-1508 Author InformationProfessor Glenn King has been working on animal venoms since 1996.He has extensive experience in the discovery, production, and structural and functional characterization of venom proteins, and is intimately aware of the issues surrounding their development as drugs and insecticides. In 2006,Professor King founded an agricultural biotechnology company, Vestaron Corporation, that is developing spider-venom peptides discovered in the lab as bioinsecticides.His current research is largely focussed on the development of venom peptides as analgesics for the treatment of chronic pain. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |