Anti-Zika Virus Monoclonal Antibodies to Aid in Vaccine Development

Highly specific monoclonal antibodies have been produced that may play a crucial role in the development of a vaccine to treat Zika virus (ZIKV) infection or as the basis for rapid diagnostic tests to detect it.

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) developed six mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against ZIKV after immunizing the animals with live virus and boosting them with infectious virus or recombinant E proteins. Four of the mAbs neutralized infection of African, Asian, and American strains of ZIKV to varying degrees, whereas two inhibited infection poorly.

Results of X-ray crystallographic and competition binding analyses, which were described in the July 27, 2016, online edition of the journal Cell, defined three spatially distinct epitopes in DIII of the envelope protein corresponding to the lateral ridge, C-C’ loop, and ABDE sheet regions. In vivo passive transfer studies in a lethal mouse model of ZIKV infection revealed protective activity of neutralizing DIII lateral ridge mAbs.

"Importantly, some of our antibodies are able to neutralize African, Asian, and American strains of Zika virus to about the same degree," said senior author Dr. Daved Fremont, professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine. "We think that this piece of the viral envelope protein alone would be able to elicit a protective immune response to Zika, which suggests the possibility of making a vaccine from an engineered viral protein rather than the whole virus."

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Washington University School of Medicine