A potent new weapon against the Zika virus in the blood of people who have been infected by it.
A research team based at The Rockefeller University has identified a potent new weapon against the Zika virus in the blood of people who have been infected by it. This discovery could lead to new ways of fighting the disease. Detailed examination of the interaction between the virus and antibodies derived from human subjects in Brazil and Mexico, including crystallographic studies performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsourse (SSRL), have revealed a new potential strategy for developing a vaccine towards this virus.
Through collaborators working in Pau da Lima, Brazil, and Santa Maria Mixtequilla, Mexico, the research team obtained blood samples from more than 400 people, collected shortly after Zika was circulating.
In these samples, antibodies that block the virus from initiating an infection were found. Interestingly, the antibodies appeared to have been initially generated in response to an earlier infection by a related virus (DENV1) that causes dengue fever. It appears that, much like a vaccine, the DENV1 virus can prime the immune system to respond to Zika.