Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis

Tan, Choo Hock; Palasuberniam, Praneetha; Tan, Kae Yi

doi:10.3390/toxins13080514

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Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis

Choo Hock Tan

^1,*

Praneetha Palasuberniam

^1,2

and

Kae Yi Tan

^3,*

Venom Research, Toxicology Research Lab, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia

Protein and Interactomics Lab, Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Toxins 2021, 13(8), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080514

Received: 16 June 2021 / Revised: 16 July 2021 / Accepted: 19 July 2021 / Published: 23 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drivers of Venom Potency across the Animal Kingdom)

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Abstract

Snakebite envenomation is a serious neglected tropical disease, and its management is often complicated by the diversity of snake venoms. In Asia, pit vipers of the Ovophis species complex are medically important venomous snakes whose venom properties have not been investigated in depth. This study characterized the venom proteomes of Ovophis convictus (West Malaysia), Ovophis tonkinensis (northern Vietnam, southern China), and Ovophis okinavensis (Okinawa, Japan) by applying liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, which detected a high abundance of snake venom serine proteases (SVSP, constituting 40–60% of total venom proteins), followed by phospholipases A₂, snake venom metalloproteinases of mainly P-III class, L-amino acid oxidases, and toxins from other protein families which were less abundant. The venoms exhibited different procoagulant activities in human plasma, with potency decreasing from O. tonkinensis > O. okinavensis > O. convictus. The procoagulant nature of venom confirms that consumptive coagulopathy underlies the pathophysiology of Ovophis pit viper envenomation. The hetero-specific antivenoms Gloydius brevicaudus monovalent antivenom (GbMAV) and Trimeresurus albolabris monovalent antivenom (TaMAV) were immunoreactive toward the venoms, and cross-neutralized their procoagulant activities, albeit at variably limited efficacy. In the absence of species-specific antivenom, these hetero-specific antivenoms may be useful in treating coagulotoxic envenomation caused by the different snakes in their respective regions. View Full-Text

Keywords: snakebite envenomation; venomics; procoagulant; antivenom; mountain pit viper

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tan, C.H.; Palasuberniam, P.; Tan, K.Y. Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis. Toxins 2021, 13, 514. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080514

AMA Style

Tan CH, Palasuberniam P, Tan KY. Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis. Toxins. 2021; 13(8):514. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080514

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tan, Choo H., Praneetha Palasuberniam, and Kae Y. Tan. 2021. "Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis" Toxins 13, no. 8: 514. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080514

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Snake Venom Proteomics, Immunoreactivity and Toxicity Neutralization Studies for the Asiatic Mountain Pit Vipers, Ovophis convictus, Ovophis tonkinensis, and Hime Habu, Ovophis okinavensis

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