Cloning and Expression of CDR regions from a Monoclonal Antibody against Bothropic Serine Proteases: Supporting Snakebite Therapeutic Sera

• Grant number: 25/00507-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Calheta Vieira Portaro
• Grantee: Rafael Pereira Barbosa Lopes Garcia
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Snakebite accidents are a neglected tropical disease, according to the World Health Organization, and in Brazil envenomation by snakes of the Bothrops genus is the most common and can be extremely severe if not treated promptly and correctly. Snakebite accidents are typically treated using serotherapy, with the Butantan Institute's antibotropic serum being the most widely used in the country. Although these treatments save thousands of lives every year, classic antivenoms have limitations due to their production method, such as the immunization of large animals, as well as storage and distribution challenges throughout the country. Advances in biotechnology have generated new techniques for producing serums and drugs that have been adopted in various areas of health. However, these advances have not yet been adopted in the production of antivenoms. It is therefore necessary to develop new generation antivenoms that do not present the problems of classic sera and can improve the combat against snakebite accidents. This project aims to use molecular biology techniques to produce and explore the use of monoclonal antibody fragments containing the 3 CDR regions of the light and heavy chains of a monoclonal IgG against serine protease from Bothrops atrox venom as inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes present in botropic venoms.