Venom, whether in snakes, scorpions or Gila monsters, are very complex chemicals. And in more than one instance, research into them has led to effective drugs.
Researchers with City of Hope have developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy leveraging chlorotoxin (CLTX), a component of scorpion venom. In preclinical research published in Science Translational Medicine, they demonstrated that the therapeutics directed T cells to target brain tumor cells.
