Ebola mAbs review

Alongside Dr Pramila Rijal from the Townsend Lab at the WIMM, Fran has co-authored a review of broadly reactive monoclonal antibodies targeting Ebolavirus GP. Building on expertise arising through both their DPhils, Fran and Pramila’s review recently published in Current Opinion in Virology, focuses on antibodies that have been assessed pre-clinically for their therapeutic potential against multiple species of Ebolaviruses. 

Abstract: The filovirus vaccine and the therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) research have made substantial progress. However, existing vaccines and mAbs approved for use in humans are specific to Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV). Since other Ebolavirus species are a continuing threat to public health, the search for broadly protective mAbs has drawn attention. Here, we review viral glycoprotein-targeting mAbs that have proved their broader protective efficacy in animal models. MBP134AF, the most advanced of these new-generation mAb therapies, has recently been deployed in Uganda during the Sudan ebolavirus outbreak. Furthermore, we discuss the measures associated with enhancing antibody therapies and the risks associated with them, including the rise of escape mutations following the mAb treatment and naturally occurring EBOV variants.

The full open access text can be found here:  

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879625723000391?via%3Dihub