A new study shows that a prototype treatment for snakebite venom is effective against the venom of African and Asian cobra snakes, including some cobra, mamba, and krayt species.
According to the WHO, 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes each year, and about half of them are injected with venom. 81,000 to 138,000 of her died, and about three times as many suffered amputations and other permanent disabilities. Because of their size, children are often the most severely affected.
For 128 years, our primary treatment for snakebites has used a mixture of polyclonal antibodies derived from the blood of immunized animals. Although these drugs have proven efficacy, they can sometimes cause serious side effects. Therefore, the search for new methods to treat severe snakebite venom is ongoing.
Recently, an international team of scientists led by the DTU has achieved remarkable results and developed a new modernized venom that has been proven effective against the venom of African and Asian cobra snakes, including some cobras, mambas and krait. developed a prototype treatment. World’s worst.
“We have previously developed antibodies to venomous toxins from a single snake species. This expanded cross-neutralization capacity holds great promise for more effective snakebite victims in the future. It may provide a basis for treatment.
He conducted the research alongside colleagues from DTU, ETH Zurich, the University of Costa Rica, and industrial partners Sophion Bioscience and IONTAS. Their research is published in Nature Communications.
New antibody works against several neurotoxins
Essentially, their approach is to develop fully human-derived antibodies that offer fewer side effects, competitive costs, and superior efficacy when fine-tuned. use technology. Phage display technology is a popular in vitro methodology in drug discovery that selects antibodies that bind well to toxins in venom, allowing broad neutralization.
“The past 30 years have seen a revolution in recombinant antibody technology. Established a new anti-poison group.
After carefully selecting hundreds of antibody candidates and testing the most promising against a variety of snake venom toxins, the researchers found one in particular (2554_01_D11) to be particularly potent and broadly neutralizing. discovered. It bound to a variety of neurotoxins present in the venom of monocled cobras, forest cobras, spectacled cobras, king cobras, black mambas, and numerous striped crayts.
Subsequent in vivo studies showed that the antibodies prevented or delayed venom death. Especially in monocular cobras, the antibodies completely prevented lethality in venomous mice.
“In light of the positive results regarding neutralization of venom from Monocle cobras, we mimicked a true rescue situation, injecting mice with cobra venom and then administering antibodies.” José María Gutierrez, Emeritus Professor of the Picado Institute, said:
Although the antibodies did not prevent death from the black mamba’s venom, survival was prolonged by several hours, suggesting that the antibodies provided partial neutralization of the venom.
“These are amazing results,” says Andreas Hougaard Laustsen-Kiel.
“The antibodies we used worked against different neurotoxins from different snake species in different parts of the world. They share similarities, and apparently these are just enough for our antibody to exhibit broad cross-reactivity. Still, we want to see if it shows the same promise for neurotoxins from gray herons, striped egrets, Egyptian cobras, and others.”
Researchers hope that antibodies such as 2554_01_D11 will help in designing future toxic therapies. At the same time, however, he stresses that the discovery pipeline could aid in the development of other broadly neutralizing antibodies to toxins from other animals, bacteria, viruses and parasites, as well as cancer treatments. doing.
Original: New human antibody neutralizes snake neurotoxins across species and regions
Than: Technical University of Denmark | ETH Zurich
