Insights into an antibody directed against dengue virus

We are one step further to uncovering a new way to stave off dengue fever thanks to important work carried out at the I02 beamline at Diamond Light Source.

The study, recently published in Nature Immunology, describes how an antibody effectively targets the dengue virus.
Dengue virus affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is an untreatable infection. Secondary infections with dengue can lead to a life-threatening form of the disease due to a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). Additionally, efforts to develop a vaccine against the virus have been hindered by ADE.

A huge collaborative effort sought to investigate ADE in dengue, and two antibodies were characterised that bound to the envelope protein of the dengue virus. One of the antibodies was found to be a potent neutraliser of the virus, but importantly was unable to promote ADE.

>Read more on the Diamond Light Source website

Image: Fab binding in the context of the mature virion. e, Comparison of 2C8 Fab and 3H5 Fab docked onto a E dimer. 2C8 (green) and 3H5 (orange) Fabs were docked onto PDB ID 3J27 by aligning the EDIII potion of the structures. The Fabs are shown as surfaces and the E dimer is displayed in cartoon representation. A side view is of the E dimer on the viral surface is shown. The approximate location of the viral membrane is shown schematically.