Scientists from Sydney and Liverpool have made significant progress in their research, discovering that a common blood thinner may also be effective against cobra venom. Using CRISPR, a groundbreaking gene-editing tool, they identified cells resistant to snake venom and determined how to prevent cell damage from snake bites. The researchers highlight snake bites as a "deadliest overlooked tropical disease," responsible for approximately 140,000 deaths annually and leaving 400,000 others with long-term injuries.

Snake venom isn't all the same. Cobra venom kills cells right away causing them to die. But it also messes with your nerves and can hurt your heart and brain. Antivenom costs about 7 times what people make in a day in places where cobras bite a lot. Because of this many drug companies just stop making these products. By looking at how cobra venom, which Professor Greg Heely calls a "three-finger toxin," affects human cells, he and his team found something cool. They discovered a cell pathway that's in all known animal species. This pathway makes related molecules called heparan and heparin. Doctors use heparin to thin blood.

Professor Greg Neely (right) and lead author Tian Du in the laboratories of the Charles Perkins Centre. ( Source: Google Images) 

"Heparin is cheap, common, and on the World Health Organization's list of Essential Medicines. If human trials work out, we could start using it pretty soon as an affordable safe, and good drug to treat cobra bites," says Tian Du, a Ph.D. student and main author who works at the University of Sydney in functional genomics just like Professor Neely. Cobra venom goes after both heparin and heparan, with heparan on the outside of cells and heparin coming out during an immune response. They look alike so the venom can stick to both, and the "heparan/heparin sulfate biosynthesis pathway" was often the main target for the venom to get into cells. The red spitting cobra's venom attacked 7 out of 11 parts in this pathway, while the black-necked spitting cobra's venom hit 8 out of 11. The team used this info to turn heparin into an antidote to stop cell death in human cells and mice by filling the bite area with fake molecules. The venom attacks the outside heparin leaving the inside heparin and the cells that have it alone.

Cobras belong to the Elapidae snake family, which also has sea snakes, mambas, and coral snakes. In some Asian and African areas, cobras cause more deaths and lost limbs from bites than any other group. The team also figured out how their method could help find new ways to use antivenoms. In a video, Professor Neely explains that there aren't many different types of venom in the animal world. He says that finding a way to understand one type of venom gives us a chance to make antivenoms much faster.

The highly venomous blue bottle jellyfish from Australia contains toxins similar to those found in cobra venom. Researchers plan to investigate this jellyfish to develop an antivenom. Initially, there were concerns that wealthy nations would monopolize CRISPR technology for luxury products and anti-aging treatments. It's exciting to see CRISPR now being used to benefit the most vulnerable and underserved populations around the world.