Development of antibody-detection ELISA based on beta-bungarotoxin for evaluation of the neutralization potency of equine plasma against Bungarus multicinctus in Taiwan.

Animal testing has been the primary approach to assess the neutralization potency of antivenom for decades. However, the necessity to sacrifice large numbers of experimental animals during this process has recently raised substantial welfare concerns. Furthermore, the laborious and expensive nature of animal testing highlights the critical need to develop alternative in vitro assays. Here, we developed an antibody-detection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique as an alternative approach to evaluate the neutralization potency of hyperimmunized equine plasma against B. multicinctus, a medically important venomous snake in Taiwan. Firstly, five major protein components of B. multicinctus venom, specifically, α-BTX, ß-BTX, γ-BTX, MTX, and NTL, were isolated. To rank their relative medical significance, a toxicity score system was utilized. Among the proteins tested, ß-BTX presenting the highest score was regarded as the major toxic component. Subsequently, antibody-detection ELISA was established based on the five major proteins and used to evaluate 55 hyperimmunized equine plasma samples with known neutralization potency. ELISA based on ß-BTX, the most lethal protein according to the toxicity score, exhibited the best sensitivity (75.6 %) and specificity (100 %) in discriminating between high-potency and low-potency plasma, supporting the hypothesis that highly toxic proteins offer better discriminatory power for potency evaluation. Additionally, a phospholipase A2 (PLA2) competition process was implemented to eliminate the antibodies targeting toxicologically irrelevant domains. This optimization greatly enhanced the performance of our assay, resulting in sensitivity of 97.6 % and specificity of 92.9 %. The newly developed antibody-detection ELISA presents a promising alternative to in vivo assays to determine the neutralization potency of antisera against B. multicinctus during the process of antivenom production.

Immunoprofiling of Equine Plasma against Deinagkistrodon acutus in Taiwan: Key to Understanding Differential Neutralization Potency in Immunized Horses.

Snakebite envenoming is a public health issue linked to high mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. Although antivenom has been the mainstay treatment for envenomed victims receiving medical care, the diverse therapeutic efficacy of the produced antivenom is a major limitation. Deinagkistrodon acutus is a venomous snake that poses significant concern of risks to human life in Taiwan, and successful production of antivenom against D. acutus envenoming remains a considerable challenge. Among groups of horses subjected to immunization schedules, few or none subsequently meet the quality required for further scale-up harvesting. The determinants underlying the variable immune responses of horses to D. acutus venom are currently unknown. In this study, we assessed the immunoprofiles of high-potency and low-potency horse plasma against D. acutus venom and explored the conspicuous differences between these two groups. Based on the results of liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), acutolysin A was identified as the major component of venom proteins that immunoreacted differentially with the two plasma samples. Our findings indicate underlying differences in antivenoms with variable neutralization efficacies, and may provide valuable insights for improvement of antivenom production in the future.

Modulating the function of human serine racemase and human serine dehydratase by protein engineering.

D-Serine is a co-agonist of N-methyl D-aspartate, a glutamate receptor, which is a major excitatory neurotransmitter receptor in the brain. Human serine racemase (hSR) and serine dehydratase (hSDH) are two important pyridoxal-5'-phosphate-dependent enzymes that synthesize and degrade D-serine, respectively. hSR and hSDH have significant sequence homology (28% identity) and are similar in their structural folds (root-mean-square deviation, 1.12 Å). Sequence alignment and structural comparison between hSR and hSDH reveal that S84 in hSR and A65 in hSDH play important roles in their respective enzyme activities. We surmise that exchange of these two amino acids by introducing S84A hSR and A65S hSDH mutants may result in switching their protein functions. To understand the modulating mechanism of the key residues, mutants S84A in hSR and A65S in hSDH were constructed to monitor the change of activities. The structure of A65S hSDH mutant was determined at 1.3 Å resolution (PDB 4H27), elucidating the role of this critical amino acid. Our study demonstrated S84A hSR mutant behaved like hSDH, whereas A65S hSDH mutant acquired an additional function of using D-serine as a substrate.