One and the same vaccine could counteract dengue and the Zika. Virology researchers fromInstitut Pasteur in Paris have identified an antibody capable of neutralizing both the Zika virus and the dengue virus, according to a press release from the Institute. These two viruses have in fact some points in common, which makes it possible to fight them in the same way: they both belong to the same family (that of the flaviviruses), are transmitted by mosquito bites and their envelope proteins are similar.
A single antibody neutralizes two viruses
For this study, the researchers selected two antibodies capable of stopping the multiplication of the dengue virus. Antibodies are very small proteins that bind to pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.) to facilitate their elimination by the immune system. One of the two antibodies selected has been shown to be particularly effective in neutralizing the Zika virus. In the presence of the antibody, the virus was no longer able to infect the cells with which it was in culture. “Finding out that the dengue virus and the Zika virus are so close that certain antibodies produced against the dengue virus also neutralize the Zika virus was totally unexpected“, congratulated Félix Rey, head of the structural virology laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, in a press release.
Antibodies to protect pregnant women against Zika
Thanks to very precise analyzes using the technique of crystallography, the scientists were able to precisely determine the place of attachment of the antibody to the virus. And, good news, this location is the same for both viruses, “which suggests the production of a vaccine which stimulates the production of antibodies capable of binding and neutralizing two types of virus at the same time.“This discovery brings new hope in the fight against the Zika virus, responsible for fetal malformationsand of neurological diseases. “The antibodies could, for example, be used to protect pregnant women at risk of contracting the Zika virus. Because today, there is no vaccine or no treatment for this disease“, concludes Félix Rey.
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