Snake venoms: Composition and Cancer Therapeutic Potentials

Cancer being one of the leading causes of death worldwide Many active secretions produced by animals have been employed in the development of new drugs to treat cancer. There is urgent need to search for new drugs from natural products. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made for the treatment of cancer. The major drawback of the current methods of cancer treatment is the therapies after initial treatments. It has led to the increased use of anticancer drug developed from natural sources. The Biodiversity of snake venom is a unique source from which novel therapeutics can be developed. Snake venom toxins contributed significantly to the treatment of cancer. Some of the compounds found in snake venom present a great potential as antitumor agent. 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 present the main results of recent years of research involving the active compounds of snake venom that have anticancer activity.