Saving the horseshoe crab: A synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood for endotoxin detection

Horseshoe crabs have been integral to the safe production of vaccines and injectable medications for the past 40 years. The bleeding of live horseshoe crabs, a process that leaves thousands dead annually, is an ecologically unsustainable practice for all four species of horseshoe crab and the shoreb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS biology 2018-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e2006607-e2006607
Main Authors: Maloney, Tom, Phelan, Ryan, Simmons, Naira
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal products
Aquatic birds
Biology and Life Sciences
Biomedical materials
Bird migration
Birds
Bleeding
Crustaceans
Eggs
Endangered & extinct species
Endotoxins
Enzymes
Fisheries
Food sources
Gram-negative bacteria
Laboratory animals
Medical device industry
Medical equipment
Medicine and Health Sciences
Merostomata
Mortality
People and places
Pharmaceutical industry
Reagents
Recombinant factor C
Social Sciences
Vaccines
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Summary:Horseshoe crabs have been integral to the safe production of vaccines and injectable medications for the past 40 years. The bleeding of live horseshoe crabs, a process that leaves thousands dead annually, is an ecologically unsustainable practice for all four species of horseshoe crab and the shorebirds that rely on their eggs as a primary food source during spring migration. Populations of both horseshoe crabs and shorebirds are in decline. This study confirms the efficacy of recombinant Factor C (rFC), a synthetic alternative that eliminates the need for animal products in endotoxin detection. Furthermore, our findings confirm that the biomedical industry can achieve a 90% reduction in the use of reagents derived from horseshoe crabs by using the synthetic alternative for the testing of water and other common materials used in the manufacturing process. This represents an extraordinary opportunity for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries to significantly contribute to the conservation of horseshoe crabs and the birds that depend on them.
ISSN:1545-7885
1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.2006607