A potential human-specific antidote to black widow spider venom has been discovered, researchers report.
They have identified an antibody that effectively neutralizes black widow venom in lab tests of cell cultures, according to a study published June 12 in the journalThis antibody, or ones like it, could eventually replace the horse-derived anti-venom currently used to treat people deathly ill from the bite of the black widow, said senior study author Michael Hust, a biologist at the Technical University of Braunschweig, in Germany.
For this effort, researchers focused on the European black widow, which is largely found in the Mediterranean. However, only two antibodies identified in the study appear effective against the venom of more than one variety of black widow, they added.“To develop a potential treatment for all latrotoxins, and not only the toxin of the European black widow, we would need further improved cross-reactive antibodies,” Huss said.
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