Tinzaparin:
Researchers found tinzaparin significantly reduced damage to human cells due to spitting cobra venom.
- Tinzaparin is a drug used to treat serious blood clots, can reduced damage to cells due to spitting cobra venom.
- It is a low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) with antithrombotic properties.
- It is used for the treatment of deep venous thrombosis, a condition in which harmful blood clots form in the blood vessels of the legs.
Highlights of the research
- Tanzaparin worked by blocking the interaction between the venom and its receptor in the cell by binding to venom molecules.
- Snake Venom’s toxicity depended on the biological pathway that synthesised heparan sulphate, artificially stopping this pathway could ameliorate the venom’s toxic effects.
- One way of doing so is to introduce molecules that closely resemble heparan sulphate.
- As the body senses an excess of these molecules, it shuts down the pathways responsible for heparan sulphate synthesis. One such molecule is tinzaparin.
- When the team introduced tinzaparin immediately after subjecting cells to the snake venom, the cells survived.
