Human Neutralizing Antibody Against SARS Corona Virus

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
posted on 02/04/2009

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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a newly emergent human disease caused by a corona virus (SARS-CoV). We have identified a human antibody, 80R, derived from a human antibody library, that neutralizes SARS-CoV in a microneutralization assay. The antibody binds to a region on the spike protein of SARS-CoV that is used by the virus to bind to the ACE-2 receptor of mammalian cells and mediate viral entry. The antibody is available as both single chain antibody and monoclonal antibody and the DNA has been sequenced. The invention also discloses methods of using the antibody for therapy, diagnosis and prevention of SARS.

Applications/Advantages: The antibody can be used for passive immunotherapy of SARS as well as for diagnosis and for vaccine development. It can also be used in vitro to screen compound libraries for compounds that would modulate the binding of SARS-CoV with the SARS-CoV receptor ACE2, which could be useful in the treatment of SARS. The availability of the antibody gene for both single chain and bivalent monoclonal antibodies will allow for rapid scale up for large scale product manufacture in a variety of production cell lines.