Major advance towards development of world's first measles treatment: What researchers have discovered
Researchers have identified for the first time human antibodies that can neutralize the measles virus, a discovery that could contribute to the development of new prevention and treatment methods for one of the most contagious infectious diseases known, News.ro reports on Saturday.
A team of researchers has identified, for the first time, human antibodies capable of neutralizing the measles virus, according to a study published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. Antibodies attach to key areas of the virus and prevent it from entering the host cells.
“These antibodies work as prophylaxis – to protect against the initial infection – and also work after exposure to the virus, as a treatment against measles infection,” study coordinator Erica Ollmann Saphire of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California said in a statement.
Previously, the researchers used an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy to obtain the first images showing how antibodies from mice bind to the measles virus. These studies indicated the vulnerable points of the virus to the attack of antibodies.
In the new study, the team isolated antibodies against measles from the blood of a woman who had been vaccinated many years before. Researchers have identified antibodies that bind to two important regions of the virus – the measles fusion protein and a binding protein called “H” – and inactivate it.
Administration of these antibodies reduced the viral load 500-fold in a rodent model of measles infection, both when the treatment was given before exposure to the virus and during the first 24 to 48 hours after infection.
One of the antibodies, called 3A12, made the circulating virus undetectable, the researchers showed.
Who will this potential measles treatment especially help?
The authors of the study note that, although further research is needed, these antibodies could become important tools in the fight against measles.
New three-dimensional images of antibody structure provide the basis for developing the first measles virus treatment that can be given before or after exposure.
According to the researchers, antibodies against the measles virus could be especially useful for immunocompromised people and those who are not fully vaccinated, including children too young to be vaccinated.
“These populations currently have no other options other than the protection offered by collective immunity,” the authors stated.
The researchers point out that more and more communities have vaccination rates below the threshold necessary to maintain herd immunity, amid vaccine skepticism fueled by misinformation. The United States has reported the highest number of measles cases in decades.
