Venom-induced necrosis is a common local debilitating sequela of bites by many vipers, frequently resulting in severe permanent scarring and deformity. Antivenoms are not effective under these circumstances unless administered within a few minutes of the bite; this is unlikely to occur in the rural tropics where most victims take a long time to reach medical care. We have shown that two venom zinc metalloproteinases (jararhagin from Bothrops jararaca venom and a metalloproteinase from Echis pyramidum leakeyi venom) successfully cleaved the recombinant glutathione-S-transferase-tumor necrosis factor-alpha fusion protein (GST-TNF-alpha) substrate to form biologically active TNF-alpha which was shown to be neutralized by ovine TNF-alpha Fab antibodies. This resulted in a reduction of venom-induced necrosis in mice when injected intravenously or intradermally both before and after intradermal injections of E.p.leakeyi venom. A peptidomimetic (POL 647) was also found to inhibit the Echis metalloproteinase, thus preventing the processing of the TNF precursor; this was shown using a TNF-alpha-sensitive cell culture assay and electrophoresis. These observations demonstrate the possible importance of TNF-alpha in the development of the resulting necrotic lesion and leads to the hypothesis that increased levels of venom metalloproteinases following snake bite release active TNF-alpha. This cytokine may contribute to the local necrosis and also induce the production of endogenous matrix metalloproteinases, which in turn generate a positive feedback mechanism resulting in continued cleavage of pro-TNF-alpha. The results indicate that inhibition or neutralization of endogenous TNF-alpha appears to result in a significant reduction in venom-induced necrosis. This could help to explain the clinical observations that treatment of local necrosis following snake bite by antivenom is only minimally successful.

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The evolution of the Metalloproteinase Disintegrin Cysteine-rich (MDC) gene family and that of the mammalian Matrix-degrading Metalloproteinases (MMPs) are compared. The alignment of snake venom and mammalian MDC and MMP precursor sequences generated a phylogenetic tree that grouped these proteins mainly according to their function. Based on this observation, a common ancestry is suggested for mammalian and snake venom MDCs; it is also possible that gene duplication of the already-assembled domain structure, followed by divergence of the copies, may have significantly contributed to the evolution of the functionally diverse MDC proteins. The data also suggest that the structural resemblance of the zinc-binding motif of venom MDCs and MMPs may best be explained by common ancestry and conservation of the proteolytic motifs during the divergence of the proteins rather than through convergent evolution.

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