The Novel Clostridial Neurotoxin Produced by Strain IBCA10-7060 Is Immunologically Equivalent to BoNT/HA.

Background: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) comprise seven agreed-on serotypes, A through G. In 2014, a novel chimeric neurotoxin produced by clostridial strain IBCA10-7060 was reported as BoNT/H, with subsequent names of BoNT/FA or BoNT/HA based on sequence homology of the N-terminus to BoNT/F, the C-terminus to BoNT/A and neutralization studies. The purpose of this study was to define the immunologic identity of the novel BoNT.

Methods: monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the novel BoNT/H N-terminus were generated by antibody repertoire cloning and yeast display after immunization with BoNT/H LC-H or BoNT/F LC-H.

Results: 21 unique BoNT/H LC-H mAbs were obtained; 15 from the BoNT/H LC-H immunized library (K 0.78 nM to 182 nM) and six from the BoNT/F-immunized libraries (K 20.5 nM to 1490 nM). A total of 15 of 21 mAbs also bound catalytically inactive BoNT/H holotoxin. The mAbs bound nine non-overlapping epitopes on the BoNT/H LC-H. None of the mAbs showed binding to BoNT serotypes A-G, nor any of the seven subtypes of BoNT/F, except for one mAb that weakly bound BoNT/F5.

Conclusions: The results, combined with the chimeric structure and neutralization by anti-A, but not anti-F antitoxin indicate that immunologically the novel BoNT is BoNT/HA. This determination has significant implications for existing countermeasures and potential vulnerabilities.