Scientists have developed the first library of avian influenza antibodies, which could lead to a treatment for the potentially fatal flu strain.
American and Turkish researchers worked with Sea Lane Biotechnologies in California to procure and store over 300 antibodies that work against the avian flu (H5N1) virus. The samples were taken from survivors of Turkey's bird flu outbreak in 2005 and 2006.
So far, the researchers have found that three of the antibodies can defuse both the H1 (common flu) and H5 (avian) subtypes.
The hope is that these antibodies will help scientists find a weak link in the virus, whereby a treatment, and then a vaccine, could be developed.
"The antibodies we have isolated have the potential to be used directly as therapeutic agents against multiple influenza subtypes, permitting the resolution of infection upon administration to an infected individual," study collaborator Peter Palese, professor and chairman of microbiology at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said in a statement.
Richard A. Lerner, professor of immunochemistry and president of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Ca., added: "Three global influenza pandemics have occurred within the past 100 years, each with devastating consequences."
"Our study holds out the hope that a new outbreak could potentially be stopped at an early stage, and that effective treatment could be available to those infected."
Avian influenza has largely been confined to bird populations since it first appeared in 1997. However, because birds have been able to transmit the virus to humans, the fear is that the virus will mutate and infect people more easily, leading to a global pandemic.
The research will be published in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Abstract:
The widespread incidence of H5N1 influenza viruses in bird populations poses risks to human health. Although the virus has not yet adapted for facile transmission between humans, it can cause severe disease and often death. Here we report the generation of combinatorial antibody libraries from the bone marrow of five survivors of the recent H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in Turkey. To date, these libraries have yielded >300 unique antibodies against H5N1 viral antigens. Among these antibodies, we have identified several broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies that could be used for passive immunization against H5N1 virus or as guides for vaccine design. The large number of antibodies obtained from these survivors provide a detailed immunochemical analysis of individual human solutions to virus neutralization in the setting of an actual virulent influenza outbreak. Remarkably, three of these antibodies neutralized both H1 and H5 subtype influenza viruses.
