Institut Pasteur, Département de Microbiologie, Unité des Toxines Bactériennes, 25 Rue du Docteur Roux, 75015 Paris, France.
Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205 Paris, France.
Toxins (Basel). 2018 Sep 13;10(9):374. doi: 10.3390/toxins10090374.
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most potent known toxins, and are therefore classified as extremely harmful biological weapons. However, BoNTs are therapeutic drugs that are widely used and have an increasing number of applications. BoNTs show a high diversity and are divided into multiple types and subtypes. Better understanding of the activity at the molecular and clinical levels of the natural BoNT variants as well as the development of BoNT-based chimeric molecules opens the door to novel medical applications such as silencing the sensory neurons at targeted areas and dermal restoration. This short review is focused on BoNTs' variability and the opportunities or challenges posed for future clinical applications.
肉毒神经毒素（BoNTs）是已知最有效的毒素，因此被归类为极其有害的生物武器。然而，BoNTs 是一种治疗药物，被广泛应用，并有越来越多的应用。BoNTs 表现出高度的多样性，分为多种类型和亚型。更好地了解天然 BoNT 变体在分子和临床水平上的活性，以及基于 BoNT 的嵌合分子的开发，为新型医疗应用打开了大门，如在靶向区域沉默感觉神经元和皮肤修复。这篇简短的综述重点介绍了 BoNTs 的可变性，以及对未来临床应用带来的机遇或挑战。
