Rattlesnake blood may hold key to powerful new antivenom, study finds
University of Maryland researchers found that combining toxin-blocking proteins from rattlesnake blood produces antivenom far more potent than current treatments. The discovery could lead to safer, cheaper antivenoms for a health threat that kills up to 140,000 people yearly.
Researchers at the University of Maryland, led by professor Sean B. Carroll, have identified a promising strategy for treating venomous snakebites by drawing on snakes' own natural defenses. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on toxin-blocking proteins found in the blood of western diamondback rattlesnakes, which evolved to protect the animals from their own venom.
A neglected global threat
According to the World Health Organization, venomous snakebites kill an estimated 80,000 to 140,000 people every year, and leave hundreds of thousands more with permanent disabilities. The burden falls heavily on rural communities with limited access to effective treatment. Current antivenoms, typically produced by collecting antibodies from large animals exposed to venom, are costly, inconsistent in quality, and can trigger serious immune reactions.
A defense hidden in the blood
In 2022, Carroll's lab identified a protein called FETUA-3 that blocks many toxins in rattlesnake venom. In the new study, researchers including Elda Sánchez of Texas A&M University-Kingsville examined how individual FETUA proteins contribute to venom resistance. Each protein countered only certain effects of venom — reducing bleeding or interfering with enzyme activity, for instance — but none alone fully prevented death from a bite.
Combining several FETUA proteins, however, dramatically increased protection. In lab experiments, optimized combinations proved roughly ten times more potent than the current sheep-derived rattlesnake antivenom, fully neutralizing the lethal effects of rattlesnake venom and offering broad protection against venom from other viper species, including ones separated by millions of years of evolution.
Toward next-generation antivenoms
The current study focused on metalloproteinases, one major family of venom toxins, and the team is now applying the same approach to other toxin families. Carroll said the findings bring researchers closer to nature-based, lab-produced antivenoms that could be safer, cheaper and easier to manufacture at scale. He expects the first commercial use of such treatments to emerge in veterinary medicine, with human applications potentially following later.
