Antigenic relationships and relative immunogenicities of venom proteins from six poisonous snakes of Thailand.

Venoms from Naja naja siamensis, Ophiophagus hannah, Bungarus fasciatus, Vipera russelli, Calloselasma rhodostoma and Trimeresurus albolabris have been studied by means of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. The immunoblots were stained with rabbit homologous and heterologous antibodies. In general, the higher the mol. wt the protein the higher the immunogenicity although two proteins with mol. wts of 23,000 and 25,000 from O. hannah venom are extraordinarily immunogenic. Cross reacting and species specific venom proteins were readily identified by the immunoblot techniques. Only a small number of venom proteins were cross-reactive among the snake species tested while the remaining appeared to be species specific.