Strengthening essential medicines policy to improve antivenom availability and affordability for snakebite envenomation in rural sub-Saharan Africa

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  Strengthening essential medicines policy to improve antivenom availability and affordability for snakebite envenomation in rural sub-Saharan Africa Abstract Snakebite envenomation remains a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) globally and in most sub-Saharan African countries; however, it causes the majority of morbidities, disabilities, and mortalities, affecting mostly the rural population who engage in agriculture, pastoralism, and hunting. Despite the inclusion of antivenom in the World Health Organization (WHO) Essential Medicines List, access to and affordability of safe and effective antivenom in rural areas in most sub-Saharan countries remain severely constrained by higher cost, a fragile supply chain, and policy implementation gaps. Consequently, preventable snakebite-related morbidities, mortalities, and disabilities persist in rural areas with higher incidences of snakebites. Therefore, this article examines the epidemiological burden of snakebite envenomation in rural a...

Venom Ex Machina? Exploring the Potential of Cell-Free Protein Production for Venom Biodiscovery

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Venom Ex Machina? Exploring the Potential of Cell-Free Protein Production for Venom Biodiscovery

Abstract

Venoms are a complex cocktail of potent biomolecules and are present in many animal lineages. Owed to their translational potential in biomedicine, agriculture and industrial applications, they have been targeted by several biodiscovery programs in the past. That said, many venomous animals are relatively small and deliver minuscule venom yields. Thus, the most commonly employed activity-guided biodiscovery pipeline cannot be applied effectively. Cell-free protein production may represent an attractive tool to produce selected venom components at high speed and without the creation of genetically modified organisms, promising rapid and highly efficient access to biomolecules for bioactivity studies. However, these methods have only sporadically been used in venom research and their potential remains to be established. Here, we explore the ability of a prokaryote-based cell-free system to produce a range of venom toxins of different types and from various source organisms. We show that only a very limited number of toxins could be expressed in small amounts. Paired with known problems to facilitate correct folding, our preliminary investigation underpins that venom-tailored cell-free systems probably need to be developed before this technology can be employed effectively in venom biodiscovery.

Paas, Anne, Josephine Dresler, Lea Talmann, Andreas Vilcinskas, and Tim Lüddecke. 2024. "Venom Ex Machina? Exploring the Potential of Cell-Free Protein Production for Venom Biodiscovery" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25, no. 15: 8286. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25158286