Diabody Mixture Providing Full Protection against Experimental Scorpion Envenoming with Crude Androctonus australis Venom

Abstract

Background: Currently, the only known treatment for scorpion envenomation is serotherapy with a heterologous polyclonal antibody displaying low specificity. Results: The injection of a diabody mixture allowed mice to survive in a test that mimics severe envenomation with the crude venom. Conclusion:The diabody mixture displayed better protective power than any other known remedy. Significance: This could herald the next generation of antivenoms.

Engineering Venom’s Toxin-Neutralizing Antibody Fragments and Its Therapeutic Potential

“…The effectiveness of the antivenom was tested in vivo under conditions simulating scorpion envenoming. Here, again, the protective capacity observed was in the range of 100 LD 50 per mg of diabody [85]. Advantageously, this strategy makes it possible to administer two different antibody fragments in a quantity adjusted according to various important factors, such as the affinity of individual antibody fragments for the targeted toxin, the characteristics of the venom and the amount of each toxin in the venom, which may undergo considerable variations within the same species from region to region [69].…”

High level prokaryotic expression of anti-Müllerian inhibiting substance type II receptor diabody, a new recombinant antibody for in vivo ovarian cancer imaging

“…In parallel, many new recombinant antibody formats as single-chain variable fragments (scFv), bivalent or bispecific diabodies, minibodies… are emerging for both therapeutic and diagnostic applications (Bes et al, 2006;Chen et al, 2006;Olafsen and Wu, 2010) Kaur et al, 2012). Diabodies, the smaller bivalent recombinant antibody format (about 50 kDa), represent an important class of these engineered molecules (Di Tommaso et al, 2012b;Asano et al, 2012). Moreover, due to their pharmacokinetic properties and fast clearing, without compromising affinity and specificity, diabodies are particularly well adapted for in vivo imaging (Olafsen et al, 2012).…”

Evolution of alternative methodologies of scorpion antivenoms production

“…Juste et al (2007) successfully constructed in tandem monoclonal antibodies capable of neutralizing both the AaH1 and AaH2 toxins. Di Tommaso et al (2012) followed the same line of research and expressed the antibodies separately, achieving stability. In addition, these antibodies neutralized the venom between 2 and 3 LD 50 per mg of antibody.…”