Sunday, January 29, 2023
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Medical Countermeasures

New Gene Therapy Effective for Botulism

by Global Biodefense Staff
September 4, 2014
Botulinum toxin

The current method to treat acute toxin poisoning is to inject antibodies, commonly produced in animals, to neutralize the toxin. But this method has challenges ranging from safety to difficulties in developing, producing and maintaining the anti-serums in large quantities.

New research led by Charles Shoemaker, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, shows that gene therapy may offer significant advantages in prevention and treatment of botulism exposure over current methods. The findings of the National Institutes of Health funded study appear in the August 29 issue of PLOS ONE.

Shoemaker has been studying gene therapy as a novel way to treat diseases such as botulism, a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Despite the relatively small number of botulism poisoning cases nationally, there are global concerns that the toxin can be produced easily and inexpensively for bioterrorism use. Botulism, like E. coli food poisoning and C. difficile infection, is a toxin-mediated disease, meaning it occurs from a toxin that is produced by a microbial infection.

Shoemaker’s previously reported antitoxin treatments use proteins produced from the genetic material extracted from alpacas that were immunized against a toxin. Alpacas, which are members of the camelid family, produce an unusual type of antibody that is particularly useful in developing effective, inexpensive antitoxin agents.

A small piece of the camelid antibody – called a VHH – can bind to and neutralize the botulism toxin. The research team has found that linking two or more different toxin-neutralizing VHHs results in VHH-based neutralizing agents (VNAs) that have extraordinary antitoxin potency and can be  produced as a single molecule in bacteria at low cost. Additionally, VNAs have a longer shelf life than traditional antibodies so they can be better stored until needed.

The newly published PLOS ONE study assessed the long-term efficacy of the therapy and demonstrated that a single gene therapy treatment led to prolonged production of VNA in blood and protected the mice from subsequent exposures to C. botulinum toxin for up to several months.

Virtually all mice pretreated with VNA gene therapy survived when exposed to a normally lethal dose of botulinum toxin administered up to nine weeks later. Approximately 40 percent survived when exposed to this toxin as late as 13 or 17 weeks post-treatment. With gene therapy the VNA genetic material is delivered to animals by a vector that induces the animals to produce their own antitoxin VNA proteins over a prolonged period of time, thus preventing illness from toxin exposures.

The second part of the study showed that mice were rapidly protected from C. botulinum toxin exposure by the same VNA gene therapy, surviving even when treated 90 minutes after the toxin exposure.

“We envision this treatment approach having a broad range of applications such as protecting military personnel from biothreat agents or protecting the public from other toxin-mediated diseases such as C. difficile and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections,” said Shoemaker, the paper’s senior author. “More research is being conducted with VNA gene therapy and it’s hard to deny the potential of this rapid-acting and long-lasting therapy in treating these and several other important illnesses.”

Read the study at PLOS ONE: Prolonged Prophylactic Protection from Botulism with a Single Adenovirus Treatment Promoting Serum Expression of a VHH-Based Antitoxin Protein.

Tags: AdenovirusAntitoxinsBioterrorismBotulinum Neurotoxin

Related Posts

Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions
Pathogens

Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

January 25, 2023
DARPA Selects Teams to Develop Vaccine Durability Prediction Model
Medical Countermeasures

DARPA Selects Teams to Develop Vaccine Durability Prediction Model

January 13, 2023
small glass vials on an assembly line await filling of vaccine solution
Industry News

Sabin Vaccine Institute to Advance Ebola Sudan and Marburg Vaccines with New BARDA Funding

January 12, 2023
How Are Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stacking Up Against Omicron?
Infectious Diseases

How Are Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stacking Up Against Omicron?

January 12, 2023
Load More

Latest News

Partner Therapeutics’ Novel Approach to Stratify Sepsis Patients Gains Backing From BARDA

Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment (BRaVE) Initiative Backed by $105M DOE Funding

January 25, 2023
Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

January 25, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

January 24, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

January 17, 2023

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC