Could venom-derived therapeutics resolve treatment resistance in refractory EAC?

  Could venom-derived therapeutics resolve treatment resistance in refractory EAC? Abstract The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma is rising in Western countries. Despite advances in chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the prognosis remains poor, with an overall 5-year survival rate below 15%. A major challenge is the cancer’s poor and often unpredictable response to current treatments. Animal venoms represent a promising yet underexplored source of therapeutic agents, offering millions of structurally diverse and highly potent bioactive peptides that can modulate a wide array of molecular targets. However, only a small fraction of these peptides has been pharmacologically characterized. This review presents the therapeutic potential of venom-derived peptides in cancer treatment, summarizes the role of ion channels in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and discusses peptides targeting ion channels that may offer new opportunities for future EAC treatment. Freuville L, Matthys C, Gill...

Two New Species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria and Greece

 

Two New Species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria and Greece

Abstract

Two scorpion species, Euscorpius petarberoni sp. n. (Bulgaria) and E. trichasi sp. n. (Greece), are described based on morphological and molecular evidence; E. petarberoni sp. n. is related to E. popovi Tropea et al., 2015, E. drenskii Tropea et al., 2015, and E. thracicus Kovařík et al., 2020, while E. trichasi sp. n. is related to E. kabateki Kovařík & Šťáhlavský, 2020.

Tropea, G., V. Fet, A. Parmakelis, and I. Stathi. 2024. “Two New Species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria and Greece”. Zoodiversity 58 (1). Kyiv, Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2024.01.001.