{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,18]],"date-time":"2026-01-18T07:54:13Z","timestamp":1768722853345,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,26]],"date-time":"2020-10-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1603670400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["1031652"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1031652"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["1131732"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1131732"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Venoms act with remarkable specificity upon a broad diversity of physiological targets. Venoms are composed of proteins, peptides, and small molecules, providing the foundation for the development of novel therapeutics. This study assessed the effect of venom from the red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) on human primary leukocytes using bead-based flow cytometry, mixed lymphocyte reaction, and cell viability assays. We show that venom treatment had a significant immunosuppressive effect, inhibiting the secretion of interleukin (IL)-2 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) from purified human T cells by 90% or greater following stimulation with mitogen (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin) or via cluster of differentiation (CD) receptors, CD3\/CD28. In contrast, venom treatment did not inhibit TNF or IL-6 release from antigen-presenting cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. The reduced cytokine release from T cells was not associated with inhibition of T cell proliferation or reduction of cell viability, consistent with an anti-inflammatory mechanism unrelated to the cell cycle. Deconvolution of the venom using reverse-phase HPLC identified four fractions responsible for the observed immunosuppressive activity. These data suggest that compounds from P. porphyriacus venom may be potential drug leads for T cell-associated conditions such as graft versus host disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins12110674","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,26]],"date-time":"2020-10-26T10:38:35Z","timestamp":1603708715000},"page":"674","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Venom of the Red-Bellied Black Snake Pseudechis porphyriacus Shows Immunosuppressive Potential"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Rachael Y. M.","family":"Ryan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia"},{"name":"School of Environment and Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia"},{"name":"QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Viviana P.","family":"Lutzky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2514-3983","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Volker","family":"Herzig","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia"},{"name":"GeneCology Research Centre, School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD 4556, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2211-0265","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Taylor B.","family":"Smallwood","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"},{"name":"School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeremy","family":"Potriquet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AB SCIEX, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yide","family":"Wong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Masci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4102, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martin F.","family":"Lavin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4029, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2308-2200","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Glenn F.","family":"King","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"J. Alejandro","family":"Lopez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment and Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia"},{"name":"QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7739-080X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria P.","family":"Ikonomopoulou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia"},{"name":"Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA) in Food, CEI UAM+CSIC, 28049 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John J.","family":"Miles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"516","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2011.07.013","article-title":"Bradykinin-potentiating peptides: Beyond captopril","volume":"59","author":"Camargo","year":"2012","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"14","article-title":"Venom peptides and their mimetics as potential drugs","volume":"19","author":"Bogin","year":"2005","journal-title":"Modulator"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1699","DOI":"10.4155\/fmc.14.103","article-title":"Spider venomics: Implications for drug discovery","volume":"6","author":"Pineda","year":"2014","journal-title":"Future Med. 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