MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES NEUTRALIZING THE TOXIN-II FROM ANDROCTONUS-AUSTRALIS HECTOR SCORPION-VENOM - USEFULNESS OF A SYNTHETIC, NONTOXIC ANALOG

Scorpion venom contains toxins that act on ion channels, Some are resp onsible for the noxious effects observed when people are stung by scor pions, The study of the neutralization of these molecules and the prod uction of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) should prove valuable, Toxin II from Androctonus australis hector scorpion (AahII) is one of the most potent toxins and has been well-characterized and studied, Producing mAbs against such molecules is often difficult due to their toxicity. We used a synthetic, non-toxic analog, (Abu)(8)-AahII, to obtain mAbs which recognize and neutralize the native toxin AahII. Sets of peptide s spanning the entire sequence of AahII were assayed to identify the b inding sites of the mAbs. The various mAbs recognized only the largest peptides (12-17 residues), The recognized peptides corresponding to d ifferent parts of the AahII sequence, suggesting that several regions of the (Abu)(8)-AahII sequence mimic AahII epitopes and then elicit mA bs directed against toxin. (C) 1997 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.