Diversity of Phospholipases A from Snake Venom: Adaptive Advantages for Snakes Compromising Treatments for Snakebite Patients.

The evolution of snake venoms resulted in multigene toxin families that code for structurally similar isoforms eventually harboring distinct functions. PLAs are dominant toxins in viper venoms, and little is known about the impact of their diversity on human envenomings and neutralization by antivenoms. Here, we show the isolation of three distinct PLAs from venom.

Robust Immune Response Induced by TSP-2 Antigen Coupled to Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles.

Purpose: The use of adjuvants can significantly strengthen a vaccine's efficacy. We sought to explore the immunization efficacy of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) displaying the antigen, SmTSP-2, through a biotin-rhizavidin coupling approach. The rationale is to exploit the nanoparticulate structure and the adjuvant properties of OMVs to induce a robust antigen-specific immune response, in light of developing new vaccines against

Materials And Methods: OMVs were obtained from and conjugated with biotin.

The modulatory effect of crotoxin and its phospholipase A subunit from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom on dendritic cells interferes with the generation of effector CD4 T lymphocytes.

Dendritic Cells (DCs) direct either cellular immune response or tolerance. The crotoxin (CTX) and its CB subunit (phospholipase A) isolated from Crotalus durissus terrificus rattlesnake venom modulate the DC maturation induced by a TLR4 agonist. Here, we analyzed the potential effect of CTX and CB subunit on the functional ability of DCs to induce anti-ovalbumin (OVA) immune response.