title: Assessment of snake antivenom purity by comparing physicochemical and immunochemical methods.
abstract: Purity is a characteristic that, together with effectiveness and safety, must be tested to determine the quality of biopharmaceutical products. In therapeutic immunoglobulins, such as human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), purity is evaluated on the basis of physicochemical properties, and is usually assessed by chromatography and electrophoresis. However, in the case of antivenoms these methods fail to discriminate between antibodies towards venom antigens, which constitute the active substance, and antibodies towards non-venom antigens, which are the major impurities in most of the current formulations. The assessment of this aspect of purity requires the use of the immunochemical methods. In this study, it was demonstrated that antivenoms showing physicochemical purity higher than 90% might present immunochemical purity lower than 40%. It is proposed that a comprehensive analysis of antivenom purity should combine physicochemical and immunochemical parameters. In addition, these results are crucial to decide the more appropriate strategies to improve antivenom purity. Taking into account that the current methods of antivenom purification remove most non-antibodies proteins, we propose that efforts must be primarily directed to the improvement of immunization protocols to enhance the antibody response towards venom components in hyperimmunized animals, and secondarily, in the realm of immunoglobulin purification technology.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica. alvaro.seguraruiz@ucr.ac.cr
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.forename: Mauren
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Villalta
authors.forename: Mariángela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: León
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology*; D000997:Antivenins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D012910:Snake Venoms / Q000276:immunology*; D012911:Snakes / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000997:Antivenins; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D012910:Snake Venoms