Broadly neutralizing antibodies protect against hepatitis C virus quasispecies challenge

Law, M., Maruyama, T., Lewis, J., Giang, E., Tarr, A. W., Stamataki, Z., Gastaminza, P., Chisari, F. V., Jones, I. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7738-2516, Fox, R. I., Ball, J. K., McKeating, J. A., Kneteman, N. M. and Burton, D. R. (2008) Broadly neutralizing antibodies protect against hepatitis C virus quasispecies challenge. Nature Medicine, 14 (1). pp. 25-27. ISSN 1078-8956 doi: 10.1038/nm1698

Abstract/Summary

A major problem in hepatitis C virus (HCV) immunotherapy or vaccine design is the extreme variability of the virus. We identified human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that neutralize genetically diverse HCV isolates and protect against heterologous HCV quasispecies challenge in a human liver-chimeric mouse model. The results provide evidence that broadly neutralizing antibodies to HCV protect against heterologous viral infection and suggest that a prophylactic vaccine against HCV may be achievable.