Many active secretions produced by animals have been employed in the development of new drugs to treat diseases such as hypertension and cancer. Snake venom toxins contributed significantly to the treatment of many medical conditions. There are many published studies describing and elucidating the anti-cancer potential of snake venom. Cancer therapy is one of the main areas for the use of protein peptides and enzymes originating from animals of different species. Some of these proteins or peptides and enzymes from snake venom when isolated and evaluated may bind specifically to cancer cell membranes, affecting the migration and proliferation of these cells. Some of substances found in the snake venom present a great potential as anti-tumor agent. In this review, we presented the main results of recent years of research involving the active compounds of snake venom that have anticancer activity.
To develop the newer pharmaceuticals and to spur the strong growth, being a general property of 'handedness', chirality plays a major role. The Easson-Stedman principle shows the differences in the biological activity between enantiomers resulted from selective reactivity of one enantiomer with its receptor. It helps to improve the pharmacokinetic properties and to remove undesirable side effects by virtue of the unique activity of enantiomers. Racemic switching and marketing drug combinations are used as tools for drug life-cycle management and to redevelop racemic mixtures as single enantiomers.
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