The bacterium Clostridium botulinum produces the most potent poison in the world, which can cause paralysis, difficult breathing and death – it is called botulism. The same toxin also smoothes skin wrinkles in low concentrations because nature is so strange. It has approved treatment for botulism, but it is not perfect. Two different teams have developed a new way to treat botulism that could more effectively eliminate the dangerous toxin from cells and tissues, and depends on a modified version of the toxin itself. It will do nothing for your crow’s feet, however.
Botulinum toxin is so deadly because it is able to penetrate nerve cells, where it blocks the release of a vital neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. The most common way of contracting botulism is by eating improperly stored food that has allowed Clostridium bacteria to proliferate. Although relatively few people get botulism in the United States – there are about 200 cases each year – it is more common in the developing world and the first symptoms are often misdiagnosed. There is also the potential for Clostridium botulinum could be used as a biological weapon.
Current treatments can eliminate botulism toxin from the bloodstream, but they can do nothing about the toxins that have already infiltrated cells. That’s where the work of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Czech National Institute of Mental Health can make a difference. Both studies took similar approaches to binding an antibody to modified botulinum molecules, essentially using botulinum as a transport mechanism for antibodies.
In the immune system, antibodies are produced to help the body differentiate “me” and “something else that shouldn’t be there.” If an antibody sticks to something foreign, it marks it to be removed by the immune system. Some antibodies can also neutralize molecules and other proteins by simply gluing them to block their functions. The teams developed antibodies that can neutralize botulinum and placed them in modified versions of the toxin that do not cause disease, but can still enter cells.
The teams tested their treatments on several animal models, including mice and monkeys. They reported that the animals that received the treatment survived exposure to dangerous levels of botulinum toxin, and the controls did not. The botulinum bound to the antibody also did not contribute to any additional toxic effects. Although, in high concentrations, the spayed toxin can still cause paralysis.
Since most cases of human botulism involve a reservoir of toxin in the intestine (ie, food poisoning), standard treatment is likely to be necessary. However, the addition of antibodies linked to botulism can help to take critically ill patients to the limit, neutralizing the toxins already in their cells. However, this work is still preliminary. It will take years of additional work before the FDA allows them to be used in humans.
Now read: