PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Scientists engineer human antibodies that could neutralize black widow toxin

Researchers develop fully human antibodies that can neutralize the alpha-latrotoxin of the European black widow, potentially reducing the need for antibodies derived from horses to treat disease caused by spider bites

2024-06-12
(Press-News.org) There are various types of widow spiders, including black, red, and brown varieties in North and South America, the Australian redback spider, and several button spider species that inhabit South Africa. In Europe, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus – the European black widow – inhabits the Mediterranean region, but recently and due to the changing climate, the widows have been expanding their habitat.

Widow spiders’ bites can cause latrodectism, a disease where the spider’s venom, a neurotoxin known as alpha-latrotoxin, attacks the nervous system and causes symptoms like severe pain, hypertension, headache, and nausea. Black widow bites can be treated with antibodies derived from horses, but to make treatment safer for patients, researchers in Germany have set out to develop fully human antibodies.

“For the first time, we present human antibodies which show neutralization of black widow spider venom in a cell-based assay,” said Prof Michael Hust, a biologist at the Technical University of Braunschweig and senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Immunology. “This is the first step to replace the horse sera that are still used to treat the severe symptoms after a black widow spider bite.”

Fishing for proteins

Many patients bitten by black widows aren’t treated altogether because the antivenom is made from proteins derived from horses which are foreign to the human body and can cause undesirable side effects. These include serum sickness, a reaction to proteins in antisera derived from non-human animal sources, and serious allergic reaction. The available antivenom is also an undefined mix of antibodies that varies from batch to batch. Despite these shortcomings, this antivenom is the most efficient treatment option available right now.

“We set out to replace horse sera with recombinant human antibodies to get a better product for the patients and to avoid the use of horses for serum production,” Hust said. To do so, the scientists used an in vitro method called antibody phage display. “This approach uses extremely diverse gene collections of more than 10 billion different antibodies. From this large diversity of antibodies, phage display can fish out antibodies which can bind the desired target, in this case the toxin,” explained Hust.

Antibodies engineered in such a way can be reproduced in the same quality again and again because the DNA sequence of the human antibody is known. They also could also improve animal welfare because horses do not need to be immunized and bleeded to produce black window anti-toxins.

Antibody optimization

What the team around Hust came up with are antibody candidates that can be used for the development of therapeutic antibodies. 45 of 75 generated antibodies showed in-vitro neutralization of alpha-latrotoxin. One antibody, called MRU44-4-A1, showed outstandingly high neutralization. 

What surprised the researchers, however, was that just two of the antibodies turned out to be effective against the venom of other widow varieties. “To develop a potential treatment for all latrotoxins, and not only the toxin of the European black widow, we would need further improved cross reactive antibodies,” Hust pointed out. The researchers also said that further preclinical steps are needed to evaluate the efficacy of the antibodies before clinical trials can be started.

“In another project, we have shown that we can develop human antibodies to treat diphtheria which are effective in in vivo studies. We intend to take the same steps for the black widow antivenom antibodies. This is especially important because with the invasion of the spiders into new habitats, the incidence of latrodectism and the need for therapeutic alternatives might increase over the next years,” Hust concluded.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

How feeling younger impacts dementia caregivers and their loved ones

2024-06-12
The felt age of spousal caregivers is connected to the felt age of their loved ones living with dementia, according to a study from the University of Surrey. This perceived age in people with dementia and their caregivers is related to their own wellbeing, satisfaction with life, and self-confidence.  Felt age is defined as how old someone feels compared to their real age. It's measured by asking people to report whether they feel younger, the same, or older than their actual age. This concept helps understand how people see their own ageing, which can affect their mental and physical health and predict important ...

Towards a new era in flexible piezoelectric sensors for both humans and robots

Towards a new era in flexible piezoelectric sensors for both humans and robots
2024-06-12
Flexible piezoelectric sensors are essential to monitor the motions of both humans and humanoid robots. However, existing designs are either are costly or have limited sensitivity. In a recent study, researchers from Japan tackled these issues by developing a novel piezoelectric composite material made from electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride nanofibers combined with dopamine. Sensors made from this material showed significant performance and stability improvements at a low cost, promising advancements ...

New study suggests kidney function is associated with tooth loss in postmenopausal women

2024-06-12
CLEVELAND, Ohio (June 12, 2024)—Kidneys play a critical role in overall health by removing waste products from the blood. When they fail to sufficiently filter out foreign elements, several serious, lifethreatening, medical conditions can result. A new study suggests that chronic kidney disease may also be linked with tooth loss. Results of the survey are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. A woman’s glomerular filtration rate shows how well her kidneys are functioning. ...

Breakthrough MEMS Huygens clock improves timekeeping precision and stability

Breakthrough MEMS Huygens clock improves timekeeping precision and stability
2024-06-12
In a significant development for the miniaturization of electronic devices, a new study published in Engineering has reported the creation of a Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) clock that offers improved precision and stability. The clock, which utilizes the synchronization principle discovered by the Christiaan Huygens, consists of two synchronized MEMS oscillators and a frequency compensation system. The research details how the MEMS Huygens clock enhances short-time stability, with the Allan deviation – a measure of the clock’s accuracy over time – improving by a factor of 3.73 from 19.3 ppb to 5.17 ppb at 1 second. The clock's long-term ...

HKUMed’s world-first ‘Liver-in-Cube’ wins a gold medal at International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, advancing precise cancer treatment

HKUMed’s world-first ‘Liver-in-Cube’ wins a gold medal at International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, advancing precise cancer treatment
2024-06-12
Background Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer and third leading cause of cancer death globally. According to Hong Kong Cancer Registry data, there are approximately 1,800 new cases of liver cancer each year, with over 1,500 deaths, over 80% of which are advanced cases at first diagnosis. Patients with advanced liver cancer who are not suitable for surgical operations have limited treatment options. Traditional chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy for treating advanced liver cancer often have a low response rate and severe side effects, thereby limiting their efficacy and hindering the patient’s quality ...

Nationwide zonation and durability assessment of China’s plateau infrastructure under freeze–thaw cycles

Nationwide zonation and durability assessment of China’s plateau infrastructure under freeze–thaw cycles
2024-06-12
In a bid to tackle the enduring problem of infrastructure durability in the face of relentless freeze–thaw (F–T) cycles, a team of researchers has published a new study in Engineering. The study focuses on the Chinese Plateau region, where the harsh effects of F–T cycles on concrete structures have led to concerns regarding their aging and subsequent performance deterioration. The authors of the study emphasize that the existing national standards for designing frost-resistant concrete structures are insufficient, as they rely primarily on the coldest monthly average temperature without accounting for the intricate spatiotemporal variations, amplitude, and ...

Innovative CMUT-based resonant biosensor offers enhanced DNA detection specificity

Innovative CMUT-based resonant biosensor offers enhanced DNA detection specificity
2024-06-12
In the latest study, researchers have successfully demonstrated a novel biosensor capable of detecting single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides with high specificity without needing external labels. This advancement paves the way for more accessible and efficient point-of-care diagnostics, as reported in a recent study published in Engineering. The biosensor in question is based on capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs), which have shown promise for developing miniaturized, high-performance biosensing platforms. However, previous ...

Transparent organic–inorganic hybrid photoresist with highly tunable refractive index for advanced display

Transparent organic–inorganic hybrid photoresist with highly tunable refractive index for advanced display
2024-06-12
Researchers at Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) and BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (BOE) have developed a novel type of transparent organic–inorganic hybrid photoresist with highly tunable refractive index. The study published in Engineering presents the synthesis of transparent photoresist made of titanium dioxide nanoparticle-embedded acrylic resin with a tunable refractive index of up to 2.0 (589 nm) after being cured by ultraviolet (UV) light, while maintaining both a high transparency of over 98% in the visible ...

Quantum dots and metasurfaces: Deep connections in the nano world

Quantum dots and metasurfaces: Deep connections in the nano world
2024-06-12
In relationships, sharing closer spaces naturally deepens the connection as bonds form and strengthen through increasing shared memories. This principle applies not only to human interactions but also to engineering. Recently, an intriguing study was published demonstrating the use of quantum dots to create metasurfaces, enabling two objects to exist in the same space.   Professor Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, ...

Researchers at Houston Methodist find survival improves with open radical hysterectomy in early-stage cancer

2024-06-12
Early-stage cervical cancer patients see better survival and decreased recurrence rates after open radical hysterectomy than minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches, according to a 5-year study led by Houston Methodist researchers and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “The findings from this and an initial study in 2018 led to the change in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines established that same year that for radical hysterectomy we routinely perform an open approach. This latest study reaffirms this recommendation,” ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Plant doctor: An AI system that watches over urban trees without touching a leaf

Study tracks chromium chemistry in irradiated molten salts

Scientists: the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health

Being physically active, even just a couple of days a week, may be key to better health

High-fat diet promote breast cancer metastasis in animal models

A router for photons

Nurses and AI collaborate to save lives, reduce hospital stays

Multi-resistance in bacteria predicted by AI model

Tinker Tots: A citizen science project to explore ethical dilemmas in embryo selection

Sensing sickness

Cost to build multifamily housing in California more than twice as high as in Texas

Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

[Press-News.org] Scientists engineer human antibodies that could neutralize black widow toxin
Researchers develop fully human antibodies that can neutralize the alpha-latrotoxin of the European black widow, potentially reducing the need for antibodies derived from horses to treat disease caused by spider bites