Scientists describe antibodies that protect against large variety of flu viruses
Baku, August 14 (AZERTAC). A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Crucell Vaccine Institute in the Netherlands describes three human antibodies that provide broad protection against Influenza B virus strains. The same team had previously reported finding broadly neutralizing antibodies against Influenza A strains.
The isolation of the new broadly neutralizing antibodies, which was reported the journal Science's advance online edition, Science Express, on August 9, paves the way for researchers to develop a universal antibody-based flu therapy for use in severe infections or to protect hospital staff during an outbreak. Importantly, these antibodies may provide key clues to the design of an active universal flu vaccine—designed to protect long-term against flu viruses, not just against the current season's strains.
Influenza B viruses are considered less dangerous than Influenza A viruses, and have been less intensively studied because they have less capacity to mutate into deadly pandemic strains. However, influenza B viruses account for a significant part of the annual flu illness burden in humans.
To find broadly protective antibodies against Influenza B, the team at Crucell generated a large collection of flu antibodies from the immune cells of volunteers who had been given a seasonal flu vaccine. The researchers then screened this collection for antibodies that could bind to a wide variety of influenza B strains.
Three of the antibodies they found in this manner—CR8033, CR8071, and CR9114—protected mice against normally lethal doses of the two major influenza B strains. CR9114 also protected mice against influenza A viruses, including the H1N1 subtype that killed about 17,000 people in a 2009 pandemic. The fact that these antibodies protected against a variety of flu strains suggested they mark functionally important sites, or "epitopes," on the virus that are relatively unchanging (conserved) from one flu strain to the next.
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