ABSTRACT
Treatments for intoxication by organophosphorus nerve agents exist, the treatment regimens suffer from undesirable side effects. To overcome these disadvantages, the use of bioscavengers has emerged as a new approach to reduce the in vivo toxicity ofchemical warfare nerve agents. Bioscavengers fall into two broad categories: stoichiometric and catalytic. The generation of antibodies with catalytic activity suggests such antibodies could be effective bioscavengers. The nerve agents are small compounds of low molecular weight and under standard conditions are all liquids that differ in their degrees of volatility. The use of scavengers with catalytic activity would be advantageous because small amounts of enzyme, meaning lower concentrations in circulation, would be sufficient to catalyze the hydrolysis of large amounts of a nerve agent. In the stoichiometric category are naturally occurring human proteins that bind nerve agents, including enzymes such as cholinesterases and carboxylesterases, as well as antibodies specific for nerve agent haptens.
