Hybrid antibodies against HIV
An artificial antibody has been developed that is effective against a number of HIV strains
Anna Stavina, XX2 century
"Neutralizing broad-spectrum antibodies can become the basis for the development of such an approach to the treatment of HIV infection that would ensure the destruction of various types of the virus," says lead author Barton Haynes, an employee of Duke University. According to scientists, these antibodies could also be used to create preventive vaccines that protect against HIV.
In the course of the new study, a hybrid (or, in another way, chimeric) antibody was created from particles of two different antibodies of natural origin.
The first of the antibodies used was found in the cells of the "immune memory" of a patient with HIV infection. The body of this patient produced antibodies effective against various strains of HIV. Such compounds, called "broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies", are periodically found in HIV-infected people. For many years, scientists have been studying this phenomenon, trying to understand how the immune system of patients manages to produce them.
Researchers from Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute hope that neutralizing broad-spectrum antibodies can help create a vaccine that protects against HIV. The main problem with this type of antibodies is that it takes the immune system more than one year to produce them. During this time, the virus manages to gain a foothold in the body.
B-lymphocytes are engaged in the creation of broad-spectrum antibodies. They induce the appearance of new mutations in their own genes associated with the production of antibodies. Thus, cells try to find the most effective protection options through trial and error.
To use the potential of broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies, it is necessary to reduce the number of steps required by cells to convert ordinary ineffective antibodies into antibodies into powerful protective antibodies. Scientists believe that it is possible to "show" the immune system a way to reduce this pathway using a drug based on highly effective antibodies.
"We were able to isolate a sufficient number of neutralizing antibodies obtained from one patient. Then, with the help of computer modeling, we recreate the process of "developing" these antibodies in the body," says Haynes. "No similar experiments with broad–spectrum antibodies have been conducted before."
Another antibody was isolated from the patient's plasma. Both of them turned out to be variants of the same antibody DH511.
"We have demonstrated that these antibodies originate from the same cell and have similar potential in terms of neutralizing different viruses," explains Haynes.
Then the scientists began to combine particles of two different antibodies in different combinations. As a result, the researchers managed to create a new chimeric antibody that is more effective than the original compounds.
"This antibody is now being considered as a potential treatment for HIV," adds Haynes.
Article by Williams et al. Potent and broad HIV-neutralizing antibodies in memory B cells and plasma is published in the journal Science Immunology.
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01.02.2017