Peptide News Digest

#Scorpion-Toxin

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Research · View digest

Scorpion Peptide SjAPI-2 Blocks the Complement Immune Cascade by Binding C4 and Limits Heart Damage in an Animal Model

Researchers at Hubei University of Medicine reported in Biomolecules on October 19, 2026 that SjAPI-2, a small peptide from scorpion venom, inhibited the classical complement pathway, part of the immune system that can damage the body's own tissue, by binding the complement proteins C4 and C4b. Mapping showed a loop between residues K30 and V38 does the work, and the peptide limited heart muscle damage in an ischemia-reperfusion injury model. The authors describe it as the first anti-complement peptide reported from scorpions; the work is preclinical.

Research · View digest

Tübingen Researchers Find a Scorpion-Toxin Peptide That Blocks One Potassium Channel Has Little Effect on Real Neurons

Neurologists at the University of Tübingen's Hertie Institute reported in Frontiers in Pharmacology on October 13, 2026 that BMK86-P1, a synthetic scorpion-toxin peptide, selectively blocked Kv1.2 potassium channels made only of Kv1.2 units in cells but barely affected channels mixed with Kv1.1, the form common in the brain. In mouse neurons it produced little change in firing or synaptic activity. The authors, who study gene variants in these channels that cause epilepsy, said the work shows the limits of using such toxins as precise research tools.