Therapeutic Applications of Snake Venom Proteins as Anti-cancer Agents

Cancer is a life debilitating fatal disease that affects millions of lives annually across the world. The current cancer treatments include invasive surgical procedures or the use of non-selective cytotoxic drugs to inhibit tumour growth and metastasis. Snake venom proteins exhibit highly selective cytotoxicity to tumour cells, thus are excellent candidates for anti-cancer therapeutics. In this chapter, we discuss snake venom proteins that have been discovered to have anti-cancer properties alongside the biodiversity of venom and medically important snakes from Elapidae and Viperidae families. Snake venoms three-finger toxins, lectins, metalloproteinases, serine proteinases, disintegrins, l-amino acid oxidases and phospholipases A2 are venom proteins described prominently for anti-cancer properties. In addition, mechanistic actions of anti-cancer activities such as apoptosis, anti-angiogenesis and necroptosis have also been elaborated. In addition, drug delivery formulations for these proteins are also discussed, including the uses of liposomes, gold nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles and recombinant adenovirus. Lastly, we discuss commercially available anti-cancer drugs, such as Captopril and Enalapril, along with other clinically developed drugs. Overall, we aim to provide a chapter that enhances understanding of the therapeutic application of snake venom proteins for anti-cancer.