Poisons

"Poisons" is a broad term describing any chemical or biological substance that causes harmful physiological effects, injury, or death to a living organism upon exposure [7, 13]. In the field of pharmacology and drug discovery, "Poisons" is not recognized as a specific therapeutic target molecule, such as a receptor or enzyme, but is instead used as a functional classification for substances that disrupt essential biological processes [6, 19]. A prominent clinical example involves topoisomerase poisons, which are a class of chemotherapy agents (e.g., etoposide, topotecan) that convert their target enzymes into cellular toxins by stabilizing DNA-enzyme cleavage complexes, leading to lethal DNA double-strand breaks [10]. Additionally, numerous natural poisons derived from plants and animals have been successfully repurposed into therapeutic agents, such as botulinum toxin (Botox) for muscle disorders and captopril, which was developed based on snake venom components [1, 9, 16]. Because the term refers to an immense variety of substances with distinct molecular mechanisms—including irreversible enzyme inhibition, DNA adduction, and ion channel blockade—it is considered an overly generic and non-specific descriptor rather than a discrete biological target [5, 8].

Other names

ToxinsToxicantsVenomsBiotoxinsPhytotoxinsZootoxinsTopoisomerase poisonsMitotic poisons

Poisons exert their effects through diverse and often irreversible mechanisms, most notably by stabilizing DNA-enzyme cleavage complexes (topoisomerase poisons), inhibiting neurotransmitter release at the neuromuscular junction, blocking membrane ion channels, or irreversibly inhibiting critical metabolic enzymes [10, 16, 17, 19].