A potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims has been discovered from a very unlikely source — the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders. A drug candidate developed from a molecule found in the venom of the Fraser Island (K’gari) funnel web spider can prevent damage caused by a heart attack and extend the life of donor hearts used for organ transplants.

A drug candidate developed from a molecule found in the venom of the Fraser Island (K’gari) funnel web spider can prevent damage caused by a heart attack and extend the life of donor hearts used for organ transplants.

The discovery was made by a team led by Dr Nathan Palpant and Professor Glenn King from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Professor Peter Macdonald from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Dr Palpant, from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), said the drug candidate worked by stopping a ‘death signal’ sent from the heart in the wake of an attack.

«After a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is reduced, resulting in a lack of oxygen to heart muscle,» Dr Palpant said.

«The lack of oxygen causes the cell environment to become acidic, which combine to send a message for heart cells to die.»

«Despite decades of research, no one has been able to develop a drug that stops this death signal in heart cells, which is one of the reasons why heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the world.»

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Queensland. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.