IMMUNOASSAYS FOR SAXITOXINS

THE SAXITOXINS ARE NEUROTOXINS AND ARE AMONG THE MOST POTENT NONPROTEIN TOXINS KNOWN. SEVERAL THOUSAND CASES OF PARALYTIC SHELLFISH POISONING OCCUR WORLDWIDE EACH YEAR, WITH A CASE-FATALITY RATE APPROACHING 10 PERCENT. SINCE THERE IS NO ANTIDOTE FOR SUCH POISONING, AVOIDANCE OF CONTAMINATED MATERIAL IS THE ONLY MEANS OF CONTROL. THE CURRENTLY ACCEPTED METHOD OF DETECTING SAXITOXIN AND ITS NATURAL DERIVATIVES IS BY MOUSE BIOASSAY. ALTERNATIVE METHODS HAVE BEEN SOUGHT, BUT EACH HAS ONE OR MORE SIGNIFICANT DRAWBACK. IMMUNOASSAYS APPEAR TO BE THE MOST PROMISING METHOD TO DATE. CURRENT LIMITATIONS OF IMMUNOASSAYS ARE LACK OF ABILITY TO DETECT ALL TOXINS IN THESAXITOXIN GROUP AND PROBLEMS WITH INTERFERENCE DUE TO COMPONENTS IN THE SAMPLE MATRIX. METHODS ARE PROPOSED FOR GENERATING POLYCLONAL AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES THAT WILL ENABLE DETECTION OF ALL OF THE SAXITOXINS. PHASE I WILL FOCUS ON THE PREPARATION OF TWO DIFFERENT NEOSAXITOXIN HAPTENS AND THE DEMONSTRATION OF AN IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSE IN MICE OR RABBITS. PHASE II WILL EXTEND THE WORK AND CULMINATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUITABLE NONRADIOACTIVE IMMUNOASSAYS. IN ADDITION TO USE IN SAXITOXIN IMMUNOASSAYS, THE ANTIBODIES PRODUCED MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS AS THERAPEUTIC AGENTS IN CASES OF PARALYTIC SHELLFISH POISONING.