Therapy After Exposure to Toxins (I)

Abstract

During their duties, military personnel can be exposed to military relevant toxins. Then, efficient therapy is needed. Alternative antibodies, aptamers, can be used to neutralise and remove the toxins from the body. Aptamers are developed by means of the SELEX technology (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment). The results obtained in this report suggest that it is worthwhile to further develop aptamers against the neurotoxin saxitoxin. Development of aptamers that can be used as therapeutic agents can be administered to military personnel as antidotes after exposure has occurred. The development of an efficient therapy will contribute to fulfilling one of the main objectives of the Ministry of Defence in the area of `Passive NBC Protection', i.e. `Protection of personnel against adverse health effects as a result of (non intentional) exposure to biological agents under operational circumstances'. In addition, it is anticipated that the optimized PCR method, together with the developed DNA library and the corresponding primers can also be used for the development of aptamers against other targets as well.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA452754

Entities

People

  • A. M. De Vries
  • M. Polhuijs
  • W. E. Kaman

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Antibodies
  • Antidotes
  • Biological Factors
  • Classification
  • Computer Programs
  • Detection
  • Genetic Structures
  • Health Services
  • Materials
  • Military Personnel
  • Molecular Weight
  • Molecules
  • Neurotoxins
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Therapy
  • Toxins

Readers

  • Mycotoxin ecology in Amazonian ecosystems.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Toxicology/Environmental Toxicology