Immunological properties of 60Co gamma-rays irradiated bothropstoxin-I

We investigated the immunological behavior of BTHX-1, before and after irradiation. SDS-PAGE showed that BTHX-1 irradiated in the presence of NaNO3, had its structure preserved. Animals’ plasma immunized with native BTHX-1 had high IgG1 titers. The irradiated protein induced high titers of IgG2b. When the toxin was irradiated with t-butanol, there was a slight decrease in the production of IgG2b. Real-time PCR showed that both the IL-2 as for IL4 was more expression from the cells of the animals immunized with BTHX-1 irradiated. These results indicate that irradiation of proteins leads to significant structural modifications.