TY - JOUR
T1 - Monoclonal antibody produced in plants efficiently treats West Nile virus infection in mice
AU - Laia, Huafang
AU - Engleb, Michael
AU - Fuchsb, Anja
AU - Kellera, Thomas
AU - Johnsonc, Syd
AU - Gorlatovc, Sergey
AU - Diamond, Michael S.
AU - Chen, Qiang
PY - 2010/2/9
Y1 - 2010/2/9
N2 - Over the past decade, West Nile virus (WNV) has spread to all 48 of the lower United States as well as to parts of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, with outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease occurring annually. At present, no therapeutic or vaccine is available for human use. Epidemics of WNV and other emerging infectious disease threats demand cost-efficient and scalable production technologies that can rapidly transfer effective therapeutics into the clinical setting. We have previously reported that Hu-E16, a humanized anti-WNV mAb, binds to a highly conserved epitope on the envelope protein, blocks viral fusion, and shows promising postexposure therapeutic activity. Herein, we generated a plant-derived Hu-E16 mAb that can be rapidly scaled up for commercial production. Plant Hu-E16 was expressed at high levels within 8 days of infiltration in Nicotiana benthamiana plants and retained high-affinity binding and potent neutralizing activity in vitro against WNV. A single dose of plant Hu-E16 protected mice against WNV-induced mortality even 4 days after infection at rates that were indistinguishable from mammalian-cell-produced Hu-E16. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a plant-produced mAb against a potentially lethal infection several days after exposure in an animal challenge model and provides a proof of principle for the development of plant-derived mAbs as therapy against emerging infectious diseases.
AB - Over the past decade, West Nile virus (WNV) has spread to all 48 of the lower United States as well as to parts of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, with outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease occurring annually. At present, no therapeutic or vaccine is available for human use. Epidemics of WNV and other emerging infectious disease threats demand cost-efficient and scalable production technologies that can rapidly transfer effective therapeutics into the clinical setting. We have previously reported that Hu-E16, a humanized anti-WNV mAb, binds to a highly conserved epitope on the envelope protein, blocks viral fusion, and shows promising postexposure therapeutic activity. Herein, we generated a plant-derived Hu-E16 mAb that can be rapidly scaled up for commercial production. Plant Hu-E16 was expressed at high levels within 8 days of infiltration in Nicotiana benthamiana plants and retained high-affinity binding and potent neutralizing activity in vitro against WNV. A single dose of plant Hu-E16 protected mice against WNV-induced mortality even 4 days after infection at rates that were indistinguishable from mammalian-cell-produced Hu-E16. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a plant-produced mAb against a potentially lethal infection several days after exposure in an animal challenge model and provides a proof of principle for the development of plant-derived mAbs as therapy against emerging infectious diseases.
KW - Flavivirus
KW - Plant-made pharmaceuticals
KW - mAb therapeutics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77249090742&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0914503107
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0914503107
M3 - Article
C2 - 20133644
AN - SCOPUS:77249090742
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 107
SP - 2419
EP - 2424
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 6
ER -