Crazy and incredible: medical researchers say typically toxic, even lethal, Scorpion venom can replace addictive pain medications Morphine and opioids like Vicodin that are currently used for pain management. Cedars-Sinai has additionally begun research of Scorpion venom as a treatment or even cure for cancers, and slowing of cancerous brain tumor growth.
A deadly scorpion based in Israel (leiurus quinquestriatus) is showing the most promise for medical use, and its venom may be used for non-addictive pain relief in place of current opioid medications. That's right, the heavy hitters in pain management medications, like Morphine, Vicodin or its alternate trade names Norco or Lortab, may be replaced by one of the world's most dangerous creatures: The Giant Israeli Yellow Scorpion, ranking among the world's the most dangerous scorpions in nature, with some of the most potent venom. What is known in one sense as a terrible toxin could prove a miracle in medical breakthroughs-for both chronic pain sufferers and cancer patients.
Scorpion venom may replace morphine and other narcotic or opioid drugs currently used for pain management treatments, to provide non-addictive pain relief for people suffering from pain and chronic pain.
A team of researchers at Israel's Tel Aviv University's Department of Plant Sciences, led by Professor Michael Gurevitz, Ph.D., is currently heading investigation of how scorpion venom may be used for analgesic, pain relieving applications in human -and possible veterinary purposes- for health care. Scientists are developing pharmaceutical compounds containing peptide toxins specifically from Giant Israeli Yellow Scorpion venom.
The Tel Aviv University team says the scorpion venom compounds interact with sodium channels in the muscular and nervous systems, to actually block pain sensations in humans and animals, without causing addiction or other dangerous side effects held with Mporphine and other prescription narcotic or opiate pain relievers such as Vicodin (aka Norco or Lortab).
"The mammalian body has nine different sodium channels, of which only a certain subtype delivers pain to our brain," says Gurevitz. "We are trying to understand how toxins in the venom interact with sodium channels at the molecular level." Medical research has hinted that scorpion venom might also be effective for neurological conditions like epilepsy, seizure disorders or even cancerous tumors.
Specifically, scorpion venom may show promise for treating brain cancer-in addition to replacing Morphine and Vicodin pain drugs. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, medical researchers have already experimented with use of venom from the Giant Yellow Israeli Scorpion in treating brain cancer patients. A protein known as TM-601 found in the specific venom may be effective in helping transmit radioactive iodine to certain cancerous cells in the brain. That protein may contain the ability to target cancers accurately and specifically, without negative effects or harm to the neighboring healthy tissues. Radiation therapies can be used more efficiently and safely for brain tumor treatments of patients and cancer sufferers. Proteins may be used for treating patients with malignant glioma tumors, which emerge most commonly in patients aged 50 to 60.
As an added glimmer of hope for brain cancer patients, the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center researchers have found that the protein compound, which they are developing to match that of Israel's Giant Israeli Yellow Scorpion Venom, could prove effective in also slowing cancerous tumor growth.
"There are data to suggest [scorpion venom]...may also slow down the growth of tumor cells," recounted Dr. Adam Mamelak. "If studies continue to confirm this, we may be able to use it in conjunction with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, because there may be a synergistic effect. In other words, TM-601's ability to impede cancer growth could allow us to reduce the dose of chemotherapy."
Cobra snake venom, another potent poison, is already on the United States market as an over-the-counter pain reliever.