Péptidos sintéticos antitumorales y antibacterianos inspirados en toxinas del veneno de serpientes

Abstract

The search for new molecules with biological activity from natural sources and their subsequent synthesis is part of the pharmacological research process. Synthetic peptides are currently considered as fundamental pillars for the development of new drugs; thus, the objective of the present research was to compile available scientific information on synthetic peptides inspired by snake toxins that present antitumor and antibacterial activity reported at an experimental level. An exhaustive search of original articles, in English and Spanish, published from 2010 to 2022 was carried out, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 27 articles were selected, which allowed obtaining a database with the relevant information to systematize some synthetic peptides with antitumor and antibacterial activity. The results of this bibliographic review were that synthetic peptides are inspired from toxins of venomous snakes and are mainly derived from phospholipases A2. These synthetic peptides present different mechanisms of antitumor action because they can stop the cell cycle or induce apoptosis, as is the case of the BthTx-I and BthTx-II peptides, inhibit cell migration in the case of the Drs-PLA2 peptide and affect cell membrane permeability in the case of the p-Appk and p-Acl peptides. While antibacterial peptides depend on their physicochemical properties, as this allows them to generate isoelectric instability affecting bacterial membranes, as is the case for Pn-PLA p-Appk and p-Acl peptides, also antibacterial activity is due to morphological changes with respect to the bacterial membrane as demonstrated by omw1 and omw2 peptides. This shows that synthetic peptides present a great potential for the development of new treatments and less invasive and more effective drugs in these pathologies.