201. Broadly neutralizing antibodies from human survivors target a conserved site in the Ebola virus glycoprotein HR2-MPER region.
- Author
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Flyak AI, Kuzmina N, Murin CD, Bryan C, Davidson E, Gilchuk P, Gulka CP, Ilinykh PA, Shen X, Huang K, Ramanathan P, Turner H, Fusco ML, Lampley R, Kose N, King H, Sapparapu G, Doranz BJ, Ksiazek TG, Wright DW, Saphire EO, Ward AB, Bukreyev A, and Crowe JE Jr
- Subjects
- Animals, Antibodies, Neutralizing metabolism, Antibodies, Viral metabolism, Antibodies, Viral pharmacology, Binding Sites drug effects, Chlorocebus aethiops, Cross Reactions, Ferrets, Guinea Pigs, Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola metabolism, Humans, Membrane Glycoproteins immunology, Membrane Glycoproteins metabolism, Mice, Models, Molecular, Protein Binding, Rabbits, Vero Cells, Viral Proteins chemistry, Viral Proteins metabolism, Antibodies, Neutralizing pharmacology, Ebolavirus immunology, Epitopes immunology, Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola immunology, Membrane Glycoproteins chemistry
- Abstract
Ebola virus (EBOV) in humans causes a severe illness with high mortality rates. Several strategies have been developed in the past to treat EBOV infection, including the antibody cocktail ZMapp, which has been shown to be effective in nonhuman primate models of infection
1 and has been used under compassionate-treatment protocols in humans2 . ZMapp is a mixture of three chimerized murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)3-6 that target EBOV-specific epitopes on the surface glycoprotein7,8 . However, ZMapp mAbs do not neutralize other species from the genus Ebolavirus, such as Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), Reston virus (RESTV) or Sudan virus (SUDV). Here, we describe three naturally occurring human cross-neutralizing mAbs, from BDBV survivors, that target an antigenic site in the canonical heptad repeat 2 (HR2) region near the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the glycoprotein. The identification of a conserved neutralizing antigenic site in the glycoprotein suggests that these mAbs could be used to design universal antibody therapeutics against diverse ebolavirus species. Furthermore, we found that immunization with a peptide comprising the HR2-MPER antigenic site elicits neutralizing antibodies in rabbits. Structural features determined by conserved residues in the antigenic site described here could inform an epitope-based vaccine design against infection caused by diverse ebolavirus species.- Published
- 2018
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