Recent Trend in Bioscavengers for Inactivation of Toxic Organophosphorus Compounds

In recent years, toxic organophosphorus compounds (OPs) have been used for civilians, becoming a great threat to the world. Alternative to the current treatment policy unpredictable for any prevention, researches on bioscavenger as an improved treatment have been actively conducted. Bioscavengers refer to proteins and enzymes that prevent intoxication by inactivating or binding toxic OPs before they reaches the target. In particular, extensive efforts have been made to develop catalytic bio-scavengers that quickly detoxify OPs even with a small dose of the protein by performing multiple binding and hydrolysis processes with OPs. This review introduces the latest studies and results for developing catalytic bioscavengers using molecular evolution and protein engineering techniques. We will briefly present some of the remaining challenges on developing enzymes into clinically approved drugs.