Search

In Brazil, scorpion envenomation is an important public health problem. The yellow scorpion, Tityus serrulatus (Ts), is considered the most dangerous species in the country, being responsible for the most severe clinical cases of envenomation. Currently, the administration of serum produced in horses is recognized and used as a treatment for accidents with scorpions. However, horse herds' maintenance is costly and the antibodies are heterologous, which can cause anaphylaxis and Serum Sickness. In the present work, a human monoclonal fragment antibody, Serrumab, has been analysed. Toxin neutralizing effects of Serrumab were evaluated using a two-electrode voltage-clamp technique. The results show that Serrumab presented a high neutralizing effect against Ts β-toxins (Ts1, 43.2% and Ts2, 68.8%) and none or low neutralizing effect against α-toxins (Ts3, 0% and Ts5, 10%). Additional experiments demonstrated that Serrumab was also able to neutralize the action of toxins from other scorpion genus (Css II, 45.96% and Lqh III, 100%/β- and α-toxins, respectively). This work indicated that Serrumab is able to neutralize many toxins in Ts venom, and could being considered as a neutralizing antibody for formulating a human anti-scorpion serum in Brazil. Additionally, this work demonstrated that Serrumab could neutralize different toxins from distinct scorpion genus. All these results reinforce the idea that Serrumab is a scFv antibody with multiple neutralizing capacities and a promising candidate for inclusion in scorpion anti-venoms against different genera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 20,000 snakebites are registered each year in Brazil. The classical treatment for venomous snakebite involves the administration of sera obtained from immunized horses. Moreover, the production and care of horses is costly, and the use of heterologous sera can cause hypersensitivity reactions. The production of human antibody fragments by phage display technology is seen as a means of overcoming some of these disadvantages. The studies here attempted to test human monoclonal antibodies specific to Bothrops jararacussu against other Bothrops sp. venoms, using the Griffin.1 library of human single-chain fragment-variable (scFv) phage antibodies. Using the Griffin.1 phage antibody library, this laboratory previously produced scFvs capable of inhibiting the phospholipase and myotoxic activities of Bothrops jararacussu venom. The structural and functional similarities of the various forms of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) in Bothrops venom served as the basis for the present study wherein the effectiveness of those same scFvs were evaluated against B. jararaca, B. neuwiedi, and B. moojeni venoms. Each clone was found to recognize all three Bothrops venoms, and purified scFvs partially inhibited their in vitro phospholipase activity. In vivo assays demonstrated that the scFv clone P2B7 reduced myotoxicity and increased the survival of animals that received the test venoms. The results here indicate that the scFv P2B7 is a candidate for inclusion in a mixture of specific antibodies to produce a human anti-bothropic sera. This data demonstrates that the human scFv P2B7 represents an alternative therapeutic approach to heterologous anti-bothropic sera available today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]