Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have isolated human monoclonal antibodies against influenza B, a major public health threat that disproportionately affects children, the elderly, and other immunocompromised people.
Seasonal flu vaccines cover influenza B and the more common influenza A, but do not stimulate the widest possible range of immune responses against both viruses. Additionally, people whose immune systems have been weakened by age or illness may not respond effectively to the flu vaccine.
Small molecule drugs that block neuraminidase, an important glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus, may help treat early infection, but provide limited benefit when the infection is more severe and are generally less effective in the treatment of influenza B infections. Therefore, another way to combat this virus is needed.
Report in the magazine Immunity, The VUMC researchers describe how, from the bone marrow of an individual previously vaccinated against influenza, they isolated two groups of monoclonal antibodies that bound to different parts of the neuraminidase glycoprotein on the surface of influenza B.
One of the antibodies, FluB-400, broadly inhibited virus replication in laboratory cultures of human respiratory epithelial cells. It also protected against influenza B in animal models when administered by injection or through the nasal passages.
Administration of intranasal antibodies may be more effective and have fewer systemic side effects than more typical routes (intravenous infusion or intramuscular injection), in part because intranasal antibodies can “trap” the virus in nasal mucus, thus preventing infection of the underlying epithelial surface. , the researchers suggested.
These findings support the development of FluB-400 for the prevention and treatment of influenza B and will help guide efforts to develop a universal influenza vaccine, they said.
“Antibodies have increasingly become an interesting medical tool to prevent or treat viral infections,” said the paper’s corresponding author, James Crowe Jr., MD. “We set out to find antibodies against the influenza B virus, which remains a medical problem, and we were pleased to find such particularly potent molecules in our search.”
Crowe, who holds the Ann Scott Carell Chair, is a distinguished professor of pediatrics at the University and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, which has isolated monoclonal antibodies against a number of viral infections, including COVID-19.
The paper’s first author, Rachael Wolters, DVM, PhD, is a former graduate student in the Crowe lab. Other VUMC co-authors are Elaine Chen, PhD, Ty Sornberger, Luke Myers, Laura Handal, Taylor Engdahl, Nurgen Kose, Lauren Williamson, PhD, Buddy Creech, MD, and Katherine Gibson-Corley, DVM, PhD.
This study was partially funded by the subsidies of the National Institutes of Health T32AI112541, K01OD036063 and U01AI150739, the NIH-HHS 75N93019C00074 and 75N93019C00073, and the Collaborative Centers of Innovation Centers in Vaccines against the Influenza of the National Institute of the National Institute. Infectious.