Abstract：
African cobras (Naja species) represent one of the most encountered medically important snakes in Africa. They are classified as African spitting (Afronaja subgenus) and non-spitting cobras (Uraeus and Boulengerina subgenera) with similar and different characteristics. Snake venom toxins including three-finger toxin (3FTx), phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP) cause snakebite envenomation leading to morbidity and mortality. The profile of the proteome of African cobra venoms will help to develop safer and more effective antivenoms. The approval of Captopril by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, has led to intensified research towards possible use of venom toxins as therapeutics. In this review, we compare the venom proteome profile of 3 African Naja subgenera. In both Afronaja and Boulengerina subgenera, 3FTx (Afronaja-69.79%; Boulengerina-60.56%) followed by PLA2 (Afronaja-21.15%; Boulengerina-20.21%) dominated the venoms compared to the Uraeus subgenus dominated by 3FTx (84.55%) with little to no PLA2 abundance (0.8%). The venom of subgenus Uraeus was distinct from the other two subgenera by the almost total absence of PLA2, thus indicating little or no contribution of PLA2 in the envenomation caused by Uraeus compared to Afronaja and Boulengerina. Furthermore, we report studies on the experimental testing of African cobra venoms and toxins against diseases including anti-cancer properties.
摘要：
非洲眼镜蛇（Naja物种）是非洲最重要的医学蛇之一。它们被分类为非洲吐痰（Afronaja亚属）和非吐痰眼镜蛇（Uraeus和Boulengerina亚属），具有相似和不同的特征。蛇毒毒素包括三指毒素（3FTx），磷脂酶A2(PLA2),蛇毒金属蛋白酶（SVMP）引起蛇咬伤，导致发病率和死亡率。非洲眼镜蛇毒液的蛋白质组的轮廓将有助于开发更安全，更有效的抗蛇毒血清。美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）批准卡托普利用于治疗心血管疾病，导致了对可能使用毒液毒素作为疗法的研究的加强。在这次审查中,我们比较了3个非洲眼镜蛇亚属的毒液蛋白质组。在阿夫拉贾和布伦盖里纳亚属中，3FTx（Afronaja-69.79％；Boulengerina-60.56％），其次是PLA2（Afronaja-21.15％；Boulengerina-20.21％），而Uraeus亚属以3FTx（84.55％）为主，几乎没有PLaburityA2（0.8％）。Uraeus亚属的毒液与其他两个亚属不同，几乎完全不存在PLA2，因此表明与Afronaja和Boulengerina相比，PLA2在Uraeus引起的毒液中的贡献很小或没有。此外，我们报告了非洲眼镜蛇毒液和毒素对疾病的实验测试研究，包括抗癌特性。
