VIPER RESOURCE CENTER AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-KINGSVILLE

描述(由申请人提供)： 每年都在开发治疗癌症、心脏病发作和中风的新药，其中一些药物是从蛇毒中提取的。蛇毒是一种复杂的分子混合物，在治疗凝块诱导的缺血、癌症和其他人类疾病方面具有治疗价值。蛇毒是去整合素、金属蛋白酶和纤溶酶的丰富而稳定的来源。这些文献包含了许多关于毒液和/或毒液成分如何在医学上使用的参考文献。在美国境内有44种毒蛇亚种。尽管物种多样性很大，但发表的论文中有90%是来自少数较常见物种的毒液(Crotalus(C.)阿托克斯(C.adamanteus)、绿色隐翅虫(C.viridis viridis)、蟒蛇(Agkistrodon(A.)旋毛虫、斜纹盘尾轮虫和鱼尾鱼)。许多蛇毒都不能用于研究。因此，毒液的组成和在医学上的潜在用途还没有被探索。需要开发一种能够为生物医学研究提供优质毒液、毒液组分、组织、器官、皮肤以及单克隆和多克隆抗体的中心。28年来，TAMUK一直保持着强大的毒液研究计划，并开发了一种蛇馆，目前容纳了超过350条蛇，包括14个物种和24个亚种。两年前，德克萨斯A&M大学系统董事会批准在TAMUK建立天然毒素研究中心(NTRC)。NTRC的使命是提供全球研究、培训和资源，以发现毒液中发现的具有重要医学意义的毒素。该建议的目的是：1)提供其他供应商无法获得的蛇毒和其他蛇产品的可靠来源；2)饲养濒危或难以获得的毒蛇；3)通过电泳滴定(ET)、高效液相色谱(HPLC)、酶活性和基于细胞的分析来鉴定具有重要医学意义的蛇类；4)开发一项研究计划，提供对蛇毒蛋白质结构/功能关系的见解；以及5)建立一个将对其他研究人员有用的数据库。该数据库将允许用户查看蛇、它们的地理分布和毒液特征。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): New drugs are being developed each year for cancer, heart attacks, and strokes and some have been derived from snake venoms. Snake venoms are complex mixtures of molecules that can have therapeutic value in the treatment of clot-induced ischemia, cancer, and other human disorders. Snake venoms are rich, stable sources of disintegrins, metalloproteases, and fibrinolytic enzymes. The literature contains many references on how venom and/or venom components are being used in medicine. There are 44 subspecies of poisonous snakes within the U.S.. Despite the vast species diversity, 90% of the papers published have been with venom from a limited number of the more common species (Crotalus (C.) atrox, C. adamanteus, C. viridis viridis, Agkistrodon (A.) contortrix contortrix, A. contortrix laticinctus, and A. piscivorus piscivorus). Many of the snake venoms are not available for research. Therefore, venom composition and potential usefulness in medicine has not been explored. There is a need to develop a Center capable of providing quality venoms, venom fractions, tissues, organs, skins, and monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies for biomedical research. For over 28 years, TAMUK has maintained a strong venom research program and has developed a serpentarium that presently houses over 350 snakes composed of 14 species and 24 subspecies. Two years ago, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved the development of a Natural Toxins Research Center (NTRC) at TAMUK. The mission of the NTRC is to provide global research, training, and resources that will lead to the discovery of medically important toxins found in venoms. The objectives of this proposal are to: 1) provide reliable sources of venoms and other snake products that are not available from other vendors; 2) breed poisonous snakes in captivity that are endangered or difficult to acquire; 3) characterize medically important venoms by electrophoretic titration (ET), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), enzyme activities, and cell-based assays; 4) develop a research program that provides insights into structure/function relationships of venom proteins, and 5) develop a database that will be useful to other investigators. The database will allow the user to view the snakes, their geographical distribution and venom characteristics.