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Media Advisory
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
What
A research team led by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the NIH has determined how several antibodies induced by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a herpesvirus responsible for infectious mononucleosis and associated with certain cancers, block cell infection grown in the laboratory. They then used this information to develop new vaccine candidates that, in animals, induced a potent anti-EBV antibody response blocking infection of the cell types involved in EBV-associated cancers.
Currently, there is no licensed vaccine for EBV. The virus is associated with certain cancers (nasopharyngeal and gastric) epithelial cells, which form the mucosa of the body surfaces, as well as Burkitt and Hodgkin lymphomas, which are cancers of the B cells of the immune system. Worldwide, approximately 200,000 cases of EBV-associated cancers occur each year, resulting in 140,000 deaths.
Jeffrey I. Cohen, M.D., and Wei Bu, Ph.D., both of NIAID, led the survey. Previous efforts to develop a vaccine against EBV focused on a viral surface protein, gp350, that the virus uses to enter B cells. However, EBV not only infects B cells, but also epithelial cells lining the mouth and upper throat. These cells are usually infected after contact with the saliva of an individual infected with the EBV virus. The new research helps define the contributions of antibodies neutralizing viruses other than those directed against gp350 on B cells. Among the other findings, the team determined that antibodies directed against viral proteins, called gH / gL complexes , play a major role in inhibiting EBV fusion with epithelial cells.
Scientists have developed two candidate vaccines, one designed to induce anti-gH / gL antibodies on epithelial cells and the other that included gH / gL and another viral protein, gp42. The team tested the vaccines during a series of experiments on mice and monkeys. In both animal models, each of the experimental vaccines induced antibodies that potently inhibited epithelial cell fusion. The vaccine containing gp42 induced more potent B cell fusion inhibitory antibodies than those containing only gH / gL.
In contrast to the EBV gp350 vaccine candidate, which protects only B cells from infection, the candidate vaccines described in the new article have elicited antibodies that may prevent EBV fusion with both epithelial and B cells. , and could thus provide protection independent of the cell type, the authors note. The team plans to further develop one of the vaccine constructs for human trials.
article
W Bu et al. Immunization with components of the viral fusion apparatus induces antibodies neutralizing the Epstein-Barr virus in B cells and epithelial cells. Immunity DOI: 10.1016 / j.immuni.2019.03.010 (2019).
who
Dr. Jeffrey I. Cohen, Chief of the NIAID Infectious Diseases Laboratory, is available to comment on this research.
Contact
To schedule interviews, please contact Anne A. Oplinger at (301) 402-1663, [email protected]
This press release describes basic research. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is fundamental to advancing new and improved methods of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Science is an unpredictable and progressive process – every breakthrough in research builds on past discoveries, often unexpectedly. Most clinical progress would not be possible without the knowledge of basic fundamental research.
NIAID conducts and supports research – at NIH, in the United States, and around the world – to investigate the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases and to develop better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat these diseases. NIAID press releases, fact sheets and other documents are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
The NIH, the country's medical research agency, has 27 institutes and centers and is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the lead federal agency that leads and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research. She studies causes, treatments and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information on NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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