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Home > Biblio > Post-exposure Treatment with Anti-rabies VHH and Vaccine Significantly Improves Protection of Mice from Lethal Rabies Infection.

Post-exposure Treatment with Anti-rabies VHH and Vaccine Significantly Improves Protection of Mice from Lethal Rabies Infection.

Health and disease monitoring  
[1]
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Public Access

Published

Peer reviewed scientific article

English

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004902 [2]

Authors

Sanne Terryn [3]; Aurélie Francart [4]; Rommelaere, Heidi [5]; Stortelers, Catelijne [6]; Steven Van Gucht [7]

Keywords

  1. Animals [8]
  2. Antibodies, Neutralizing [9]
  3. Antibodies, Viral [10]
  4. Cell Line [11]
  5. Disease Models, Animal [12]
  6. Female [13]
  7. Half-Life [14]
  8. Humans [15]
  9. mice [16]
  10. Neutralization Tests [17]
  11. Post-Exposure Prophylaxis [18]
  12. Rabies [19]
  13. Rabies Vaccines [20]
  14. Rabies virus [21]
  15. Single-Domain Antibodies [22]
  16. Vaccination [23]
  17. Viral Load [24]

Abstract:

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) against rabies infection consists of a combination of passive immunisation with plasma-derived human or equine immune globulins and active immunisation with vaccine delivered shortly after exposure. Since anti-rabies immune globulins are expensive and scarce, there is a need for cheaper alternatives that can be produced more consistently. Previously, we generated potent virus-neutralising VHH, also called Nanobodies, against the rabies glycoprotein that are effectively preventing lethal disease in an in vivo mouse model. The VHH domain is the smallest antigen…
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Abstract

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) against rabies infection consists of a combination of passive immunisation with plasma-derived human or equine immune globulins and active immunisation with vaccine delivered shortly after exposure. Since anti-rabies immune globulins are expensive and scarce, there is a need for cheaper alternatives that can be produced more consistently. Previously, we generated potent virus-neutralising VHH, also called Nanobodies, against the rabies glycoprotein that are effectively preventing lethal disease in an in vivo mouse model. The VHH domain is the smallest antigen-binding functional fragment of camelid heavy chain-only antibodies that can be manufactured in microbial expression systems. In the current study we evaluated the efficacy of half-life extended anti-rabies VHH in combination with vaccine for PEP in an intranasal rabies infection model in mice. The PEP combination therapy of systemic anti-rabies VHH and intramuscular vaccine significantly delayed the onset of disease compared to treatment with anti-rabies VHH alone, prolonged median survival time (35 versus 14 days) and decreased mortality (60% versus 19% survival rate), when treated 24 hours after rabies virus challenge. Vaccine alone was unable to rescue mice from lethal disease. As reported also for immune globulins, some interference of anti-rabies VHH with the antigenicity of the vaccine was observed, but this did not impede the synergistic effect. Post exposure treatment with vaccine and human anti-rabies immune globulins was unable to protect mice from lethal challenge. Anti-rabies VHH and vaccine act synergistically to protect mice after rabies virus exposure, which further validates the possible use of anti-rabies VHH for rabies PEP.

Associated health topics:

Rabies [25]

Source URL:https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/post-exposure-treatment-anti-rabies-vhh-and-vaccine-significantly-improves-protection-mice-lethal

Links
[1] https://www.sciensano.be/sites/default/files/terryn_s._plosnegtropdis_-_2016.pdf [2] https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004902 [3] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/sanne-terryn/biblio [4] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=187001&f%5Bsearch%5D=Aur%C3%A9lie%20Francart [5] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=35793&f%5Bsearch%5D=Rommelaere%2C%20Heidi [6] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=35796&f%5Bsearch%5D=Stortelers%2C%20Catelijne [7] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/steven-van-gucht/biblio [8] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=423&f%5Bsearch%5D=Animals [9] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=27885&f%5Bsearch%5D=Antibodies%2C%20Neutralizing [10] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=441&f%5Bsearch%5D=Antibodies%2C%20Viral [11] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=462&f%5Bsearch%5D=Cell%20Line [12] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=27747&f%5Bsearch%5D=Disease%20Models%2C%20Animal [13] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=2685&f%5Bsearch%5D=Female [14] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=18990&f%5Bsearch%5D=Half-Life [15] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=648&f%5Bsearch%5D=Humans [16] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=2454&f%5Bsearch%5D=mice [17] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=27888&f%5Bsearch%5D=Neutralization%20Tests [18] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=27891&f%5Bsearch%5D=Post-Exposure%20Prophylaxis [19] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=1752&f%5Bsearch%5D=Rabies [20] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=23658&f%5Bsearch%5D=Rabies%20Vaccines [21] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=20943&f%5Bsearch%5D=Rabies%20virus [22] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=27894&f%5Bsearch%5D=Single-Domain%20Antibodies [23] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=1896&f%5Bsearch%5D=Vaccination [24] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=471&f%5Bsearch%5D=Viral%20Load [25] https://www.sciensano.be/en/health-topics/rabies