Clinical Serum Therapy: Benefits, Cautions, and Potential Applications

Abstract

Blood serum from immunized humans or animals (e.g., horses) contains relevant antibodies and has been used as serum therapy to treat many diseases or envenomation events. The effectiveness of blood serum was initially discovered in 1890 when Kitasato and von Behring observed the effectiveness of this type of therapy against diphtheria and tetanus. Serum therapies played an important role in the advancement of modern medicine prior to the development of penicillin and steroids. At present, several types of serum therapy remain in clinical use. However, some physicians have a limited understanding of the nature and the benefits of serum therapy and the factors that require particular attention. In this review, we set out to clarify the benefits, cautions, and potential applications of serum therapy in the context of conditions such as gas gangrene, diphtheria, botulism, and tetanus and bites from three snake species (mamushi, habu, and yamakagashi) and the redback spider. It is hoped that this review will help clinicians to learn about clinical serum therapies and become familiar with their applications.

WITHDRAWN: Methylene blue photochemical treatment as a reliable SARS-CoV-2 plasma virus inactivation method for blood safety and convalescent plasma therapy for the COVID-19 outbreak

“…Previously, the prototype 'plasma virus inactivator' JY-1 developed by Boxin BX-1's highly efficient and safe SARS-CoV-2 plasma virus inactivation technology can not only be applied to the safety of blood transfusion, but also be used to directly treat the plasma of critical COVID-19 patients. Convalescent plasma therapy is a rapid and effective treatment applied for severe infectious diseases for over 100 years [13]. In 1890, Emil von Behring from Germany and Saburo Kitari from Japan announced an important discovery: They kept injecting small amounts of non-lethal tetanus into animals, which produced an antitoxin in the blood of animals.…”

“…In addition, there are currently no specific drugs or vaccines effective against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, patient convalescent plasma therapy should be a rapid and effective treatment for this epidemic situation [13]. However, the critical aspect of this method is to ensure the complete inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in the plasma from donors.…”

Spontaneous Non-Traumatic <i>Clostridium perfringens</i> Sepsis

“…Hemolysis is the first alarming sign of C. perfringens infection. The presence of a liver abscess with gas formation, accompanied with the signs of hemolysis, such as increased levels of indirect bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase, and anemia are typical manifestations; however, progression to gross hemolysis usually leads to death ( Figure 1) (33,34). Therefore, rapid diagnosis is essential, and definitive diagnosis before the patient progresses to gross hemolysis is crucial.…”

“…perfringens sepsis based on the pathophysiological mechanism (34,43,44). In a study investigating the effects of gas gangrene antitoxin on hemolysis, coagulation status, inflammation, and mortality in α-toxin-treated rats, we demonstrated that the gas gangrene antitoxin could stop hemolysis via the neutralization of α-toxin (39).…”

“…The gas gangrene antitoxin is owned by the government under the name of Kokuyu vaccine (34)and stored at nine institutions that are spread across Japan. Therefore, rapid administration of the gas gangrene antitoxin is not practical due to the supply limitations.…”