Scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology LJI and Columbia University are using advanced imaging techniques to develop treatments that prevent the measles virus from fusing with human cells. Their research, particularly on the antibody mAb 77, shows promise in blocking this critical step of viral infection, with implications for other viruses as well.
Researchers captured the structure of a new neutralizing antibody binding to the measles fusion glycoprotein . This antibody elicits a unique neutralizing mechanism explained through a combination of cell-based assays and structural biology. Credit: Dawid Zyla, LJI “Measles causes more childhood deaths than any other vaccine-preventable disease, and it’s also one of the most infectious viruses known,” says Saphire.
Could mAb 77 work as a therapeutic antibody against measles? To find out, the LJI scientists investigated exactly how the antibody combats the virus.The LJI team needed to engineer a version of the measles fusion glycoprotein—a harmless fragment of the virus—stable enough to image with a cryo-electron microscope. To do this, Zyla worked closely with scientists in Porotto’s laboratory at Columbia University.
Next, the researchers started capturing images with the help of the LJI Cryoelectron Microscopy Core. The new images showed the fusion glycoprotein together “in complex” with mAb 77.
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