Snake bites affect the lives of millions of people around the world annually. Snake bite envenoming can be regarded as a neglected tropical disease, as it is a pathology that mostly affects people that live in low- and middle-income countries, where health care facilities are sparse. Each year, approximately 5.4 million snake bites occur, from which around 2 million bites result in cases of envenoming, leading to over 80.000 deaths and even more permanent disabilities.
Envenomation can effectively be treated by the administration of anti-snake venom. However, snakes produce some of the most varied venoms in the animal kingdom. This is due to the fact that the venom toxins have to be multifunctional, as the venom has to be able to immobilize, paralyze, kill and digest prey. Additionally, the composition of snake venoms exhibits interfamilial and intergeneric isoform diversity. This diversity makes that there are more than a hundred different proteins detected in venoms. All this results in snake venom being an extremely complex mixture of bioactive compounds.
Understanding the compositional variation of snake venoms from different species is essential when designing anti-snake venom or novel approaches for the treatment of snake envenoming. Although capillary electrophoresis seems particularly well-suited for the characterization of venom constituents, so far it hardly has been exploited in this field. Therefore, we studied the combined strength of capillary gel electrophoresis, (imaging) capillary isoelectric focusing, and capillary zone electrophoresis for the in-depth exploration of the biomolecular content of a variety snake venoms. In addition, we made use of capillary fractionation tools to allow in-depth identification and bioactivity screening.
The results of this study will be shared with the audience, showing them that this combined approach provides a unique insight in the compositional diversity of an unique cohort of snake venoms.
Spreker: Rob Haselberg, VU
Dit webinar vindt plaats op donderdag 22 april om 11:00 uur
