| abstract |
A toxoid is derived from a toxin in which an arginine residue within the toxin has undergone reaction with an alpha-dicarbonyl compound of general structure RC(O)C(O)Râ, wherein R and Râ are each selected from H, alkyl, substituted alkyl, aryl or substituted aryl group. Examples of such compounds are glyoxal, phenylglyoxal, butanedione and 1,2-cyclohexanedione. Preferably at least one of R and Râ is/are H; ie the compound preferably has at least one aldehyde group. The toxin may be derived from a plant (e.g. ricin), an animal (e.g. snake venom) or bacterium (e.g. botulinum toxin, tetanus toxin, diphtheria toxin, cholera toxin, Bordetella pertusis toxin, Pseudomonas endotoxin, shiga or shiga-like toxin, anthrax toxin or Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB). The toxoids may be used as a medicament for prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of intoxication by the toxin. Alternatively, they may be used for the production of antitoxin antibodies by injecting the toxoid into an animal and harvesting the antibodies from the serum. Antitoxin antibodies thus produced may be used for the prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of intoxication by the toxin. |