Pair Combinations of Human Monoclonal Antibodies Fully Protected Mice Against Bunyavirus SFTSV Lethal Challenge

Overview

Journal PLoS Pathog

Date 2025 Jan 31

PMID 39888973

Authors

Bang Li

Xiang-Rong Qin

Jia-Chen Qu

Guan-du Wu

Wen-Kang Zhang

Ze-Zheng Jiang

Pan-Pan Liu

Ze-Min Li

Tian-Mei Yu

Chuan-Min Zhou

Yong-Jun Jiao

Xue-Jie Yu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by a tick-borne virus SFTSV with a mortality rate of up to 30%. Currently, there is no vaccine or effective therapy for SFTS. Neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapy, which provides immediate passive immunity and may limit disease progression, has emerged as a reliable approach for developing therapeutic drugs for SFTS. In this study, 4 human monoclonal antibodies (hmAbs) derived from convalescent SFTS patients' lymphocytes based on human single-chain variable fragment antibody libraries were tested for their neutralizing activities in cells and their treatment effect in animals individually and in pair combinations. The neutralization test showed that all 4 hmAbs exhibited strong neutralizing activity against SFTSV infection in vitro. The protection rate of hmAbs 4-6, 1F6, 1B2, and 4-5 against SFTSV lethal challenge in IFNAR1-/- A129 mice are 50%, 16.7%, 83.3%, and 66.7%, respectively. Notably, the pair combination of antibodies (1B2 and 4-5, 1B2 and 1F6) that recognized distinct epitopes protected 100% of mice against SFTSV lethal challenge. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the pair combinations of hmAbs 1B2 and 4-5 or hmAbs 1B2 and 1F6 may serve as promising therapeutic drugs for treating SFTSV infection.

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