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is there any research about using snakes venom for medical uses (espacielly healing cancer)?

There has been research going on for many years and some new medicines have come out of it. One notable example is preparations to control the rate of blood clotting made from Russell's Viper venom. Bill Haast started research probably 40 years ago using various venoms to find medicines for arthritis. There has also been research going on at various places using snake venoms pain control. All venoms are a cocktail of various proteins, toxins, etc. Some are mostly neurotoxic (attacking the nervous systems)and some are mostly hemotoxic (attacking the blood). They all contain some or all of the following types of toxins: cytotoxins or mytotoxins (attacking cells of particular organs or systems in different ways), cardiotoxins (affecting heart rate and function), neurotoxins, proteolytic enzymes (causing tissue destruction), and hemotoxins. There are many different types of each class of toxin and they all work in slightly different ways. For instance, the Monocellate or Monacled Cobra (Naja naja kaouthia) has a venom comprised of the following:

Phospholipase A2, Neurotoxin, Long neurotoxin, weak neurotoxin, cytotoxin, cobratoxin, cardiotoxin, cobrin

So, you see that with the complexity of venoms and the multiple ways they work, there are lots of possibilities for isolating and purifying the different components and studying how they do their job. From that we can find uses for them in treating things like cancer (cytotoxins), research into things like pain receptor activating venom components (pain control), etc.

By the way, it's not just snake venoms that are used in this kind of research. Bee and wasp venoms, spider venoms, jellyfish venoms, frog toxins, Cone Shell Venoms, Blue Ringed Octopus venom, and others are also used. Some of the most potent natural toxins known come from the Box Jellyfish and the Blue Ringed Octopus.

thank you for your kind ansawer.
im looking spacificlly for inf. about use of snakes against cancer.
the differnt between snakes and other animals is that the snake in all the anciant culters is a strong symbol, and also nowadays, and offcourse is the symbol of the healers. that why i asked about snake venoum i spent some time in guatemala in a place where a lot of indigenous womens got the cancer, so i was curious if its pussible to use the snake venum to heal tham.
have a nice day
giora

A dermatologist here in Vermont was considering this as a research topic of her own. Check out the site below to get in touch with her and see if she has any recommendations for materials or research directions. She's an awesome person, and I think would be happy to help you out!
Link

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Justin, Julie and the meangerie...
(Bobbing igs, snapping macklots, exploring ball, hungry kings, hyper grey rat, quacking tribs, hissing roaches, wriggling worms & chirping crickets)
Vermont Herpetological Society Online
www.vermontherps.org

There has been research done with southern copperhead venom as well as rattlesnakes. See links below for more info.

http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/BICH/venom.htm

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9802/27/cancer.snake.venom/

http://www.slip.net/~mcdavis/database/angio168.htm

That should be enough to whet your appetite

If you want more info goto dogpile.com and type in "venom research for cancer" without the quotation marks. You will find several ranging from snakes to scorpions and everything in between.

Hope this helps
CT