Efficient serum clearance of botulinum neurotoxin achieved using a pool of small antitoxin binding agents

Infect Immun. 2010 Feb;78(2):756-63. doi: 10.1128/IAI.01084-09. Epub 2009 Nov 16.

Abstract

Antitoxins for botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) and other toxins are needed that can be produced economically with improved safety and shelf-life properties compared to conventional therapeutics with large-animal antisera. Here we show that protection from BoNT lethality and rapid BoNT clearance through the liver can be elicited in mice by administration of a pool of epitope-tagged small protein binding agents together with a single anti-tag monoclonal antibody (MAb). The protein binding agents used in this study were single-chain Fv domains (scFvs) with high affinity for BoNT serotype A (BoNT/A). The addition of increasing numbers of differently tagged scFvs synergistically increased the level of protection against BoNT/A. It was not necessary that any of the BoNT/A binding agents possess toxin-neutralizing activity. Mice were protected from a dose equivalent to 1,000 to 10,000 50% lethal doses (LD(50)) of BoNT/A when given three or four different anti-BoNT scFvs, each fused to an E-tag peptide, and an anti-E-tag IgG1 MAb. Toxin protection was enhanced when an scFv contained two copies of the E tag. Pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated that BoNT/A was rapidly cleared from the sera of mice given a pool of anti-BoNT/A scFvs and an anti-tag MAb but not from the sera of mice given scFvs alone or anti-tag MAb alone. The scFv pool and anti-tag MAb protected mice from lethality when administered up to 2 h following exposure of mice to a dose equivalent to 10 LD(50) of BoNT/A. These results suggest that it will be possible to rapidly and economically develop and produce therapeutic antitoxins consisting of pools of tagged binding agents that are administered with a single, stockpiled anti-tag MAb.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology*
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / pharmacology
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / immunology
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / pharmacology
  • Botulinum Antitoxin / immunology*
  • Botulinum Antitoxin / pharmacology
  • Botulinum Toxins, Type A / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • Epitopes / pharmacology
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments / immunology*
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments / pharmacology
  • Mice

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Botulinum Antitoxin
  • Epitopes
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments
  • Botulinum Toxins, Type A