Engineering of a recombinant Fab from a neutralizing IgG directed against scorpion neurotoxin AahI, and functional evaluation versus other antibody fragments.

Antibody-based therapy is the only specific treatment for scorpion envenomation. However, there are still major drawbacks associated with its use; mainly because antivenoms are still prepared from immune equine serum raised against crude venoms, whereas only a limited number of neurotoxins are responsible for the lethality of the venom. Using a murine hybridoma that secretes a well-characterized neutralizing IgG directed to neurotoxins AahI and AahIII from the venom of the scorpion Androctonus australis, we constructed a recombinant Fab (rFab) fragment, which was produced and purified from transformed bacteria. It recognized toxin AahI with a high affinity (KD = 8.2 x 10(-11)) equivalent to the homologous pFab prepared by papain digestion of whole IgG. Although the AahI-neutralizing capacity of protein L-purified rFab was low compared to other recombinant antibody formats (scFv and diabody) investigated in parallel, the antibody engineering approach presented here provides an innovative way to synthesize novel toxin-neutralizing molecules. It may serve as a strategy for designing a new generation of antivenoms.