10 hours agoShareSaveJames GallagherShareSaveJacob GlanvilleThe team is trying to refine the antibodies further and see if adding a fourth component could lead to total protection against elapid snake venom.The other class of snake – the vipers – rely more on haemotoxins, which attack the blood, rather than neurotoxins. In total there are around a dozen broad classes of toxin in snake venom, which also includes cytotoxins that directly kill cells.”I think in the next 10 or 15 years we’ll have something effective against each one of those toxin classes,” said Prof Peter Kwong, one of the researchers at Columbia University.And the hunt continues inside Mr Friede’s blood samples.”Tim’s antibodies are really quite extraordinary – he taught his immune system to get this very, very broad recognition,” said Prof Kwong.The ultimate hope is to have either a single antivenom that can do everything, or one injection for elapids and one for vipers.Prof Nick Casewell, who is the head of the centre for snakebite research and interventions at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said the breadth of protection reported was “certainly novel” and provided “a strong piece of evidence” that this was a feasible approach.”There is no doubt that this work moves the field forwards in an exciting direction.”But he cautioned there was “much work to do” and that the antivenom still needed extensive testing before it could be used in people.But for Mr Friede, reaching this stage “makes me feel good”.”I’m doing something good for humanity and that was very important to me. I’m proud of it. It’s pretty cool.” …
