Jennifer R Deuis, Zoltan Dekan, Joshua S Wingerd, Jennifer J Smith, Nehan R Munasinghe, Rebecca F Bhola, Wendy L Imlach, Volker Herzig, David A Armstrong, K Johan Rosengren, Frank Bosmans, Stephen G Waxman, Sulayman D Dib-Hajj, Pierre Escoubas, Michael S Minett, Macdonald J Christie, Glenn F King, Paul F Alewood, Richard J Lewis, John N Wood, Irina Vetter
Human genetic studies have implicated the voltage-gated sodium channel NaV 1.7 as a therapeutic target for the treatment of pain. A novel peptide, μ-theraphotoxin-Pn3a, isolated from venom of the tarantula Pamphobeteus nigricolor, potently inhibits NaV 1.7 (IC50 0.9 nM) with at least 40-1000-fold selectivity over all other NaV subtypes. Despite on-target activity in small-diameter dorsal root ganglia, spinal slices, and in a mouse model of pain induced by NaV 1.7 activation, Pn3a alone displayed no analgesic activity in formalin-, carrageenan- or FCA-induced pain in rodents when administered systemically...
January 20, 2017: Scientific Reports