Researchers have designed an antibody that targets all four serotypes of dengue, sparking hopes for the first viable dengue therapeutic
A multinational research team comprising scientists, engineers and drug developers have joined forces to develop a viable dengue therapeutic that targets all dengue serotypes. Their results, published in Cell, come as welcome news at a time were an estimated 400 million people are infected with dengue each year.
Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), Duke-NUS Graduate School of Medicine (Duke-NUS), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a biotechnology company, Visterra, to develop a single treatment for all four serotypes of dengue.
The team started with a naturally occurring antibody that reacted only against limited number of types of dengue virus. Using that antibody as a scaffold, the team engineered a new antibody that reacts against all four types of dengue virus.
The engineering was made possible by computational methods developed in MIT and SMART. This was then confirmed and validated using a detailed crystal structure of the antibody-virus protein complex obtained at NTU, which also provided insights into how the antibody engaged the virus to produce the desired effect.
Using a variety of systems developed in the SMART laboratories in the Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE) (e.g. the SMART humanised mouse model), Duke-NUS and NUS, the team then showed that this novel antibody has the potential to neutralise dengue virus and prevent signs of disease.
Another important feature of this antibody is that it acts on a part of the virus that is not normally targeted by the normal human immune response. This is important as the antibody would not need to compete with but would instead augment the overall natural immune response against dengue virus.
“This interdisciplinary, transnational team has enabled us to address this problem in unique ways,” said Professor Ram Sasisekharan, SMART principal investigator (PI) of the Infectious Diseases Interdisciplinary Research Group (ID IRG), and MIT Professor of Biological Engineering and Health Sciences & Technology, who led the team. “A single laboratory would not have the breadth of expertise to solve this problem on its own.”
“We have each been working on our own areas of interests for years,” added Associate Professor Ooi Eng Eong, deputy director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme at Duke-NUS and SMART co-lead PI of ID IRG. “To be able to take what we have built over the years and put it together to solve a critical medical need, has been very rewarding personally and professionally.”
Read more: Engineered Antibody Neutralizes All Four Dengue Serotypes
The Latest on: Dengue vaccine
via Google News
The Latest on: Dengue vaccine
- Dengue fever kills 41 in first halfon August 2, 2022 at 12:19 am
The Heath Ministry said 41 people died of dengue fever in January-June, up 31 cases compared to the same period last year.
- Laos health ministry facing big issue as both Dengue and Covid-19 cases are rising in the countryon July 30, 2022 at 5:00 am
It's tough times in Laos now. During a peak in dengue fever, with more than 12,000 cases, Laos also faces a new wave of Covid-19 outbreak, reports Laotian Times.
- Emergex Announces GMP Production of its CD8+ T cell Universal Influenza Vaccineon July 27, 2022 at 11:02 pm
Emergex’s universal influenza vaccine is a radically different approach toinducinginfluenzaimmunity byemployingthe use ofa combination of: 1.HighlyconservedClass I peptides from non-structural ...
- Dengue vaccine studies being done in Cebu Cityon July 25, 2022 at 11:57 pm
A TOP official of the Cebu City Health Department (CHD) believes it is now the right time to roll out vaccines against the dengue virus.Dr. Ilya Tac-an, CHD’s head of the Epidemiology, Surveillance, ...
- DOH says dengue picking up in PHon July 25, 2022 at 7:40 am
Dengue cases since January 2022 reportedly went up to more than 73,000, of which over 18,000 have been logged in ...
- Dengue Fever During Pregnancy: Risks, Care Tips and Treatmenton July 23, 2022 at 4:03 am
If a pregnant woman gets infected with dengue, she may suffer critical complications. Here is how to prevent the situation.
- Here’s where you can get a vaccine or test for meningitis or monkeypoxon July 22, 2022 at 3:00 am
Romero, the CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, has said getting the meningitis vaccine is crucial to preventing an illness that can quickly kill. There ...
- First human case of dengue in Florida spurs mosquito-borne illness advisoryon July 21, 2022 at 3:14 pm
Health officials in Miami-Dade County issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory on Monday after the first case of dengue was confirmed this year in a Florida resident.
- What you need to know about dengue, who's at risk and does it matter where you got bit?on July 21, 2022 at 9:42 am
As if COVID, monkeypox and triple-digit heat indices aren't enough to make you consider sealing yourself inside an air-conditioned hazmat suit, the announcement by Florida's health department that ...
- Florida reports first human case of dengue of 2022, issues mosquito-born illness advisoryon July 21, 2022 at 7:39 am
Health officials in Miami-Dade County issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory after the first case of dengue was confirmed this year in a Florida resident.
via Bing News