Experimental Ebola antibody protects monkeys

NIH | MARCH 16, 2016

The Ebola virus causes acute disease that can lead to severe illness and death. There are currently no licensed treatments for Ebola virus infection. One experimental drug cocktail called ZMapp is now being evaluated in human trials. ZMapp is composed of 3 different monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

The Ebola virus surface glycoprotein (blue) is shown bound by protective antibodies mAb114 (pink/white) and mAb100 (purple/white). Image credit: NIAID

A team of scientists of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) set out to develop a simplified treatment with fewer antibodies by generating mAbs from human survivors of Ebola virus disease.

The researchers obtained blood samples from a survivor of the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tests showed that, more than a decade after infection, the survivor retained antibodies against Ebola. Collaborators from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Switzerland then cloned antibody-producing B cells from the survivor to make mAbs for potential use as a therapeutic for Ebola infection.

2 of the mAbs (mAb110 and mAb114) had unique properties and were the most potent against Ebola virus.

Collaborators administered a lethal dose of Zaire ebolavirus to 4 rhesus macaques, then treated 3 of the animals, beginning a day later, with a mixture of the mAbs for 3 consecutive days. The untreated control macaque developed Ebola virus disease and succumbed to the virus, but the treated animals survived and remained free of Ebola symptoms.

The team found that mAb114 binds to a novel site of vulnerability on the Ebola virus that was previously thought to be unreachable by antibodies.

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