Researchers have found that one of the components in scorpion venom called iberiotoxin can reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis, if not totally eliminating the pain in knee joints.
In arthritis, fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) cells play a major role as they move from joint to joint, secreting products that damage the joints and attract body's immune cells to cause inflammation and pain. As damage progresses, the joints become enlarged and make it difficult even to move.
Since the current treatment targets the immune cells and not the FLS cells, Christine Beeton at Baylor College of Medicine who led the team said they found iberiotoxin, one of the hundreds of components in scorpion venom, can effectively reduce the severity of arthritis, without inducing any side effects.
Iberiotoxin in scorpion venom was able to specifically block the FLS potassium channel and reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis in rats. When they applied iberiotoxin on rat models with the disease, it stopped the progression of arthritis effectively and in some cases, even reversed the signs of arthritis, enabling better joint mobility and less inflammation in their joints.
Moreover, they found that the treatment with iberiotoxin did not induce any side effects, such as tremors and incontinence, which have been observed when treating with another channel blocker called paxilline, noted researchers.
"We think that this venom component, iberiotoxin, can become the basis for developing a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in the future." Beeton said.
The study appears in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
