Scientists create first successful libraries of avian flu virus antibodies

Novel Project could help thwart worldwide influenza threat

MENLO PARK, CA, APRIL 10, 2008—An international group of American and Turkish research scientists, led by Sea Lane Biotechnologies, has created the first comprehensive monoclonal antibody libraries against avian influenza (H5N1) using samples from survivors of the 2005/2006 "bird flu" outbreak in Turkey. These antibody libraries hold the promise for developing a therapy that could stop a pandemic in its tracks and provide treatment to those infected, as well as potentially pointing the way towards the development of a universal flu vaccine. The expanded treatment and containment options offered by Sea Lane’s antibody libraries could help provide healthcare officials, researchers, and governments with unprecedented resources to combat this serious global health threat.

“Three global influenza pandemics have occurred within the past 100 years, each with devastating consequences,” said Richard A. Lerner, the Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Immunochemistry at, and President of, the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) who collaborated with Sea Lane on the study. “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.”

The study is being published in this week’s Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Libraries Have Yielded More Than 300 Antibodies Active Against Avian Influenza

So far, the new antibody libraries reported in the study have yielded more than 300 unique monoclonal antibodies that are active against H5N1 antigens—foreign substances that produce an immune system response. From this group, the authors identified several broadly neutralizing antibodies that were effective against a number of contemporary subtypes of H5 (avian) flu.

Moving Towards A Universal Influenza Vaccine

The new research reported here suggests that the antibodies recovered from the avian flu survivors may point to an exploitable weak spot in the virus, offering the tantalizing possibility that a “universal” vaccine against all strains might be made.

Remarkably, three of the more than 300 antibodies catalogued have been found to neutralize both the H1 (common seasonal flu) and H5 (avian) subtypes. “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,” said Peter Palese, the Horace W. Goldsmith Professor & Chairman of Microbiology at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY), another collaborator on the project.