Reducing cellular cholesterol and sphingolipids for lethal jellyfish sting

INDICATION: Poisoning

Cell culture and mouse studies suggest chelating cellular cholesterol and sphingolipids could help treat poisoning by stings from the Chironex fleckeri jellyfish, which cause cytotoxicity, tissue damage, pain and death. A genetic screen in human cells treated with C. fleckeri venom identified multiple genes involved in cholesterol and sphingolipid biosynthesis as candidate targets for reducing venom-induced cytotoxicity. In a human leukemia cell line treated with the venom, VTS-270, a compound that inhibits cholesterol and sphingolipid storage, or a tool compound cholesterol chelator decreased cell death compared with vehicle. In mice with hind paw injection of C. fleckeri venom, VTS-270 injection to the same paw decreased pain-associated flinching, tactile allodynia and tissue damage at the injection site. Next steps include testing whether VTS-270 can prevent C. fleckeri venom-induced death in animals...