New Bispecific Antibody Shows Promise in Fighting Influenza Virus
Highly mutable viruses such as influenza virus pose a significant health challenges worldwide, as attempts to design an effective vaccine against all the circulating variants have yet to be successful. A new study led by Romila Moirangthem, a graduate student supervised by the senior lead investigator Dr. Yotam Bar-On from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, offers an alternative therapeutic strategy for controlling flu infections. The study describes the development of a novel bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets the two key proteins of the influenza virus, potentially offering improved protection and treatment against flu infection.
In this study, a collaboration between the Technion, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the USA National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, the Pasteur Institute and the French Vaccine Research Institute, the investigators generated a bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets both the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) proteins on the influenza virus surface. This antibody showed superior neutralization of the virus compared to individual antibodies or combinations targeting HA or NA alone, both in laboratory tests and animal (mice) studies. Additionally, one of the main advantages of this bispecific antibody is its ability to not only neutralize influenza viruses but also to trap virus particles inside the infected cells
Beyond the potency of this antibody, the dual-targeting approach developed here potentially impairs the ability of the virus to evolve and develop resistance, which remains the main hurdle in developing an effective flu therapeutic.
This work opens new avenues for developing more effective therapies against influenza, at times when the spread of the deadly avian influenza strain increase the risk for a global flu pandemic.
The study was published in Molecular Therapy on July 31, 2024
