Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) from Snake Venoms: Therapeutic Applications

Snake venom, a highly poisonous and active venomous snake's secretion, is a complex mixture of inorganic cations, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, peptides, toxins and hydrolytic enzymes of importance including Phosphodiesterases (PDEs). These snake venom hydrolytic enzymes interfere in different physiological processes. Snake venom PDEs have several roles to metabolize extracellular nucleotides and to regulate nucleotide based intercellular signalling mechanisms including platelet aggregation, which can lead to death and debilitation in cardiac arrest and strokes in patients having cerebro-vascular and cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and atherosclerosis which is the primary cause of life-threatening diseases such as, stroke and myocardial- infarction.

PDEs are used to synthesize modified oligonucleotides, which are useful in potential therapeutic applications. Characterization of PDEs from different snake venoms has potential in identifying new anticoagulants that target specific active sites, which leads to the treatment of haemostatic disorders. Here, we review the snake venom PDEs potential therapeutic activity against platelet aggregation which could provide ideal platforms to design drugs for treatment or to fight against unwanted clots formation.