Autocrine-Based Selection of Drugs That Target Ion Channels from Combinatorial Venom Peptide Libraries

Animal venoms represent a rich source of pharmacologically active peptides that interact with ion channels. However, a challenge to discovering drugs remains because of the slow pace at which venom peptides are discovered and refined. An efficient autocrine-based high-throughput selection system was developed to discover and refine venom peptides that target ion channels. The utility of this system was demonstrated by the discovery of novel Kv1.3 channel blockers from a natural venom peptide library that was formatted for autocrine-based selection. We also engineered a Kv1.3 blocker peptide (ShK) derived from sea anemone to generate a subtype-selective Kv1.3 blocker with a long half-life in vivo.