Ability of monoclonal antibody to herpes simplex virus glycoprotein gB to promote healing of herpetic skin lesions in nude mice

Monoclonal antibody therapy of herpes simplex virus: An opportunity to decrease congenital and perinatal infections

The fetal/neonatal period represents both a unique window of opportunity for interventions as well as vulnerability to a number of viral infections. While Herpesviruses such as herpes simplex virus (HSV) are highly prevalent and typically of little consequence among healthy adults, they are among the most consequential infections of early life. Despite treatment with antiviral drugs, neonatal HSV (nHSV) infections can still result in significant mortality and lifelong neurological morbidity. Fortunately, newborns in our pathogen-rich world inherit some of the protection provided by the maternal immune system in the form of transferred antibodies. Maternal seropositivity, resulting in placental transfer of antibodies capable of neutralizing virus and eliciting the diverse effector functions of the innate immune system are associated with dramatically decreased risk of nHSV. Given this clear epidemiological evidence of reduced risk of infection and its sequelae, we present what is known about the ability of monoclonal antibody therapies to treat or prevent HSV infection and explore how effective antibody-based interventions in conjunction with antiviral therapy might reduce early life mortality and long-term morbidity.

Therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies

Researchers have sought therapeutic applications for monoclonal antibodies since their development in 1975. However, murine-derived monoclonal antibodies may cause an immunogenic response in human patients, reducing their therapeutic efficacy. Chimeric and humanized antibodies have been developed that are less likely to provoke an immune reaction in human patients than are murine-derived antibodies. Antibody fragments, bispecific antibodies, and antibodies produced through the use of phage display systems and genetically modified plants and animals may aid researchers in developing new uses for monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of disease. Monoclonal antibodies may have a number of promising potential therapeutic applications in the treatment of asthma, autoimmune diseases, cancer, poisoning, septicemia, substance abuse, viral infections, and other diseases.

Protection against herpes simplex virus infection in mice by recombinant murine interferon-beta in combination with antibody

A recombinant murine interferon -beta (rMuIFN-beta) was used to suppress the development of skin lesions and death of mice after challenge with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 (HSV-1). Depilated female BALB/c mice were inoculated intradermally with HSV-1, Hayashida strain, and were administered various concentrations of interferon (IFN) intraperitoneally 3 h later. The treatment with IFN was given once a day for 10 successive days. Under the conditions in which almost all control mice died after development of severe zosteriform skin lesions, the mortality of mice treated with IFN (8 X 10(5) or 8 X 10(4) U/mouse) was less than 50% (9/20 and 4/10, respectively), though all mice treated with a lower dose of IFN (8 X 10(3) U/mouse) died. Titration revealed that there was no significant suppression of virus growth by IFN in the skin or dorsal root ganglia, but it was significantly suppressed in the brain. The protective effect of IFN was enhanced when it was used in combination with human anti-HSV antibody having a neutralizing titer (NT) of 1:16. All mice treated with IFN (8 X 10(5) U/mouse) and antibody (NT, 1:16) survived, and only 40% of them developed slight zosteriform skin lesions. The effect of the combination was observed even when both IFN and antibody were diluted 1:10. The protective effect of IFN was also observed when athymic nude mice were used as the host. In this system, though the IFN-treated nude mice survived significantly longer than the controls, they finally died. In antibody- or acyclovir (ACV)-treated nude mice, there was also a prolongation of survival time as compared with control mice. The effect of antibody was enhanced by the addition of IFN, but IFN did not potentiate the effect of ACV.