Frontispiz: Synthesis of Erythrocyte Nanodiscs for Bacterial Toxin Neutralization

A requirement for FcγR in antibody-mediated bacterial toxin neutralization

One important function of humoral immunity is toxin neutralization. The current view posits that neutralization results from antibody-mediated interference with the binding of toxins to their targets, a phenomenon viewed as dependent only on antibody specificity. To investigate the role of antibody constant region function in toxin neutralization, we generated IgG2a and IgG2b variants of the Ba...

Shiga Toxin Therapeutics: Beyond Neutralization

Ribotoxic Shiga toxins are the primary cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in patients infected with Shiga toxin-producing enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (STEC), a pathogen class responsible for epidemic outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease around the globe. HUS is a leading cause of pediatric renal failure in otherwise healthy children, resulting in a mortality rate of 10% and a chro...

Toxin-antitoxin Reaction without Neutralization

1. Collodion particles adsorb diphtheria or tetanus or botulinus toxins. These toxins are retained on the particles when washed but are at least in part released in the animal. 2. The adsorbed toxins are neutralized by adsorption of the corresponding antitoxins but are unaffected by other serums. 3. When collodion particles are treated first with tetanus antitoxin, then with diphtheria toxin, t...

de novo Synthesis of a Bacterial Toxin/Antitoxin System

The prevalence of toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems in almost all genomes suggests they evolve rapidly. Here we show that an antitoxin from a type V system (GhoS, an endoribonuclease specific for the mRNA of the toxin GhoT) can be converted into a novel toxin (ArT) simply by adding two mutations. In contrast to GhoS, which increases growth, the new toxin ArT decreases growth dramatically in Escheric...

Antibiotic-induced Bacterial Toxin Release – Inhibition by Protein Synthesis Inhibitors