UC BERKELEY AUTHOR: Diego A. Espinosa, Eva Harris
DATE OF PUBLICATION: July 2016
REGION: Brazil, Latin America
REFERENCE: Stettler K, Beltramello M, Espinosa DA, et al. Specificity, cross-reactivity and function of antibodies elicited by Zika virus infection. Science. 2016;:aaf8505
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus with homology to Dengue virus (DENV), has become a public health emergency. By characterizing memory cells from ZIKV-infected patients, we dissected ZIKV-specific and DENV-crossreactive immune responses. Antibodies to NS1 were largely ZIKV-specific and were used to develop a serological diagnostic tool. In contrast, antibodies against E protein domain I/II (EDI/II) were cross-reactive and, while poorly neutralizing, potently enhanced ZIKV and DENV infection in vitro and lethally enhanced DENV disease in mice. Memory T cells against NS1 or E proteins were poorly crossreactive, even in donors pre-exposed to DENV. The most potent neutralizing antibodies were ZIKV-specific and targeted EDIII or quaternary epitopes on infectious virus. An EDIII-specific antibody protected mice from lethal ZIKV infection, illustrating the potential for antibody-based therapy.
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