Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) in Bengaluru have developed a synthetic human antibody that can neutralise a potent neurotoxin produced by the Elapidae family of highly toxic snakes, which includes the cobra, king cobra, krait and black mamba.
According to IISc., the team adopted an approach used earlier to screen antibodies against HIV and COVID-19 in order to synthesise the new venom-neutralising antibody. “This is the first time that this particular strategy is being applied to develop antibodies for snakebite treatment,” said Senji Laxme R.R., PhD student at Scripps Research Institute and the Evolutionary Venomics Lab (EVL), and co-first author of the study published in Science Translational Medicine.
Closer to universal solution
Researchers say that this development takes us one step closer to a universal antibody solution that can offer broad protection against a variety of snake venom.
Snakebites cause thousands of deaths every year, especially in India and sub-Saharan Africa. The current strategy for developing anti-venom involves injecting snake venom into equines like horses, ponies and mules, and collecting antibodies from their blood.
But there are several problems.