Generation of chicken-based IgY polyclonal antibodies against Dendroaspis polylepis and preclinical evaluation of envenomation-neutralizing efficacy vis-à-vis selected commercial antivenoms

The Black mamba, D. polylepis, is one of the many venomous snakes found in Kenya, and known to account for some snakebite incidents. The Kenyan Ministry of Health data reveals annual 15,000 snakebites occurrences. Also, 1 in 15 people in Kenya gets bitten by a snake, and tragically, 1 in 147 of these individuals die of snakebite yearly. Traditionally, antivenoms for treatment are produced from horse or sheep but have complicated and expensive production issues. Alternative production approaches, such as using IgY antibodies derived from chicken egg yolks, may overcome disadvantages with traditional antivenom manufacturing techniques. In this current study, D. polylepis specific IgY polyclonal antibodies were purified from the egg yolks of chickens immunized with D. polylepis venom. These antibodies were subsequently assessed for their in-vivo neutralizing capacity vis-à-vis commercial antivenoms, PANAF-Premium and VINS. The IgY antibodies were purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and affinity-chromatography, with quality and specificity determined by SDS-PAGE and ELISA. The LD₅₀ of D. polylepis was found to be 0.54 mg/kg in chicks, and 0.34 mg/kg in mice, respectively. Pool of extracted IgY yielded 2.8 mg/mL concentration. Purified IgY under non-reducing and reducing conditions on SDS-PAGE exhibited a single-protein band of about 183 kDa and two bands (67 kDa and 25 kDa), respectively. The minimum-edematogenic dose was 0.05 μg. Anti-D. polylepis IgY antibodies and two antivenoms demonstrated the capacity to neutralize the toxic activities of D. polylepis venom. This study confirms a successful IgY generation against Black mamba venom for the first time, and observed toxic effects of the venom as well as neutralizing capacity of antivenoms.