ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming, gram-positive bacterium that causes the zoonosis called anthrax. This disease primarily affects herbivores but can also indirectly cause infection in humans, where, if septicemia increases, it can cause death. Anthrax has been declared a potent bioweapon because of its highly resilient spores, which can be disseminated discreetly and usually cause flu-like symptoms, being a curse in disguise. Thus, there was a need to prepare vaccines to combat this disease. For humans, current vaccines include acellular types like Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA) in the USA and Anthrax Vaccine Precipitated (AVP) in the United Kingdom, based on non-encapsulated strains and containing protective antigen as the main immunogen.
Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that have high binding affinity and specificity for target molecules. This study utilizes aptamers to selectively bind and remove the potent immunogen. Therefore, experiments such as ELISA were performed to determine if the aptamer was binding to the toxin components Lethal Factor (LF) and Edema Factor (EF), as well as Protective Antigen (PA). Supernatant assay was performed to determine the volume of supernatant that could cause maximum cytotoxicity, i.e., has enough LF and EF to induce killing. Additionally, MTT assay was used to check the viability of cells incubated with aptamer-treated supernatant, confirming the efficacy of aptamer-mediated toxin removal.
Keywords: Lethal Factor, Edema Factor, Protective Antigen, Anthrax, Aptamers, MTT assay.
