Neutralization of typhoid toxin by alpaca-derived, single-domain antibodies targeting the PltB and CdtB subunits

Abstract

Typhoid toxin is secreted by the typhoid fever-causing bacterial pathogen Salmonella Typhi and has tropism for immune cells and brain endothelial cells. Here, we generated a camelid single domain antibody (VHH) library from typhoid toxoid-immunized alpacas and identified 41 VHHs selected on the glycan-receptor binding PltB and nuclease CdtB. VHHs exhibiting potent in vitro neutralizing activities from each sequence-based family were epitope binned via competition ELISAs, leading to 6 distinct VHHs, two anti-PltB (T2E7 and T2G9) and four anti-CdtB VHHs (T4C4, T4C12, T4E5, and T4E8), whose in vivo neutralizing activities and associated toxin neutralizing mechanisms were investigated. We found that T2E7, T2G9, and T4E5 effectively neutralized typhoid toxin in vivo , as demonstrated by 100% survival of mice administered a lethal-dose of typhoid toxin and with little to no typhoid toxin-mediated upper motor function defect. Cumulatively, these results highlight the potential of the compact antibodies to neutralize typhoid toxin by targeting the glycan-binding and/or nuclease subunits.