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wdemilly wdemilly
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12 years ago Edited: 12 years ago, wdemilly
Hi, I'm researching scorpion venom, specifically the various toxins which act as potassium channel inhibitors.   One species, Centruroides gracilis produces an ERG2-like toxin.

If I want to research the literature to see if this toxin inhibits the production of B leukocytes, or interferes in any way with their behavior.

This link may help: uniprot.org

Can anyone give me some guidance?  

Thanks!
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ppk
wrote...
Valued Member
On Hiatus
12 years ago
From the get-go, I really can't see a correlation to B-cell leukocytes. How did you come up with the presumption?
wdemilly Author
wrote...
12 years ago
Here's how I arrived at my possibly wacky presumption...   

The thought process began when I read a recent study out of Norway on the anti-CD20 antibody Rituximab, which  is effective at B-Cell depletion (and consequently, effective in the treatment of ME/CFS, which the authors suggest may be an autoimmune disorder).   

So, I looked around for other immunosupressants and found that there seems to be agreement that inhibition of the K+ channel function can lead (among other things) to a decrease in proliferation of lymphocytes.

Following this, I discovered that various K+ toxins are found in scorpion venoms.   The article below discusses some of these.  However it does not address the potassium channel toxin gamma-KTx 3.4, (also referred to as ERG2) which is found in Centruroides gracilis.

Here's the article:

Journal of Immunology

So.... am I totally off base here? 

Thanks for your time... and any suggestions on where to look for "natural" b-cell inhibitors.
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