Toxins 2017, 9(5), 158; doi:10.3390/toxins9050158
Third Generation Antivenomics: Pushing the Limits of the In Vitro Preclinical Assessment of Antivenoms
Laboratorio de Venómica Estructural y Funcional, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, CSIC, Jaime Roig 11, 46010 Valencia, Spain
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Academic Editors: Wayne Hodgson and Geoff Isbister
Received: 20 April 2017 / Revised: 5 May 2017 / Accepted: 5 May 2017 / Published: 10 May 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Use of Antibodies/Antivenom Against Envenoming)
Abstract
Second generation antivenomics is a translational venomics approach designed to complement in vivo preclinical neutralization assays. It provides qualitative and quantitative information on the set of homologous and heterologous venom proteins presenting antivenom-recognized epitopes and those exhibiting impaired immunoreactivity. In a situation of worrying antivenom shortage in many tropical and sub-tropical regions with high snakebite mortality and morbidity rates, such knowledge has the potential to facilitate the optimal deployment of currently existing antivenoms and to aid in the rational design of novel broad specificity antidotes. The aim of the present work was to expand the analytical capability of the immunoaffinity second-generation antivenomics platform, endowing it with the ability to determine the maximal binding capacity of an antivenom toward the different toxins present in a venom, and to quantify the fraction of venom-specific antibodies present in a given antivenom. The application of this new platform, termed third generation (3G) antivenomics, in the preclinical evaluation of antivenoms is illustrated in this paper for the case of antivenom EchiTAb-Plus-ICP® reactivity towards the toxins of homologous (B. arietans) and heterologous (N. melanoleuca) venoms. View Full-TextKeywords:
snake venom; antivenom; preclinical assessment of antivenom; third generation antivenomics; size-exclusion analysis of IgG-toxin complexes
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Pla, D.; Rodríguez, Y.; Calvete, J.J. Third Generation Antivenomics: Pushing the Limits of the In Vitro Preclinical Assessment of Antivenoms. Toxins 2017, 9, 158.
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