The Marburg Vaccine

Antibodies cured 100 percent of experimental animals from Marburg fever

Oleg Lischuk, N+1

Artificially colored electronic micrography of Marburg viruses.
A snapshot from the NIH Monoclonal antibody cures Marburg infection in monkeys press release

A drug based on a human monoclonal antibody, developed by American and Austrian scientists, prevented the death of up to 100 percent of experimental animals from Marburg fever in tests, and the effect persisted when administered five days after infection. The results of the work are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine (Mire et al., Therapeutic treatment of Marburg and Ravn virus infection in nonhuman primates with a human monoclonal antibody).

Marburg fever is caused by two similar types of virus – Marburg and Ravn, belonging to the species Marburg marburgvirus is from the filovirus family. They are closely related to the Ebola virus and cause a similar severe hemorrhagic fever with similar symptoms and mortality rates (often above 50 percent of those infected). There is currently no effective treatment for Marburg fever.

Research team from Vanderbilt and Texas Universities with colleagues from other research centers have previously described a number of preparations of monoclonal antibodies to viral glycoprotein isolated from people who have had an infection. These drugs prevented the disease of mice infected with a lethal dose of the virus. In the described preclinical trials, the most effective of these antibodies were injected into guinea pigs and rhesus monkeys for the purpose of treating, not preventing, fever.

At the first stage of the study, scientists injected MR78-N and MR191-N antibodies to guinea pigs infected with lethal doses of Marburg and Ravn viruses on the fourth day after contact with the pathogen (so far, no experimental drug has produced an effect when administered later than the third day after infection). The first drug prevented the death of 60 percent of animals from the Marburg virus and 100 percent from the Ravn virus. The second drug provided 100 percent survival, regardless of the type of virus. All animals from the control group who received a placebo died by day 10 from the introduction of pathogens.

Based on these data, the MR191-N antibody was used in an experiment with rhesus monkeys. Animals infected with lethal doses of Marburg and Ravn viruses were administered the drug twice: on the fifth and eighth day after the introduction of pathogens. 80 percent of monkeys infected with the Marburg virus and 100 percent with the Ravn virus survived. The appointment of an antibody on the fourth day from contact with the Marburg virus saved all the animals. In the control group, all macaques died by the eighth (Marburg) or tenth (Ravn) day after infection.

In both experiments, MR191-N reduced the virus content in the blood to an undetectable level by 7-10 days after the introduction of the virus.

Currently, scientists are planning to begin additional studies of the safety of the drug in animals and, if successful, proceed to clinical trials.

At the end of 2016, an international group of scientists reported the successful completion of the II and III stages of clinical trials of a gene therapy vaccine against Ebola. The drug has demonstrated 100 percent effectiveness.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  06.04.2017