The history of ricin, abrin and related toxins

Ricin, abrin and related plant toxins have played interesting and important roles in the history of clinical medicine and biomedical research. The use of these proteins in medical treatment since ancient times is reviewed. Later the proteins played important roles in the early days of immunological...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Toxicon 2004-09, Vol.44 (4), p.361-370
Main Author: Olsnes, Sjur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abrin
Abrin - history
Abrin - metabolism
Biomedical Research - history
Bioterrorism
Glycoside Hydrolases - metabolism
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
History, Ancient
Immunotoxin
Immunotoxins - metabolism
Intracellular trafficking
Magic bullet
Ricin
Ricin - history
Ricin - metabolism
Toxins, Biological - history
Toxins, Biological - metabolism
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Summary:Ricin, abrin and related plant toxins have played interesting and important roles in the history of clinical medicine and biomedical research. The use of these proteins in medical treatment since ancient times is reviewed. Later the proteins played important roles in the early days of immunological research and some of the fundamental principles of immunology were discovered with toxic proteins of this group. During the last three decades the mechanism of action of the toxins was elucidated. This led to a major effort to target the toxins to malignant cells. Ricin has been used in bioterrorism. Recently, the toxins have played important roles as experimental models to elucidate the intracellular trafficking of endocytosed proteins.
ISSN:0041-0101
1879-3150
DOI:10.1016/j.toxicon.2004.05.003