on August 3, 2015
A group of international researchers, led by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), has isolated an antibody against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a potentially fatal disease of viral origin which was part of the headlines following the dozens of deaths recently registered in South Korea. This antibody could quickly lead to a therapy.
The researchers, led by Antonio Lanzavecchia, director of the IRB, institute affiliated to the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), in only four months were able to isolate, test and produce the antibodies on a large scale, as mentioned in a press release from Humabs BioMed, a company in Bellinzona founded by Lanzavecchia. The antibodies were obtained from the blood of the first patients who became ill from MERS, as specified in the research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Coloured transmission electron micrograph of MERS coronavirus particles (orange) budding from a host cell (blue). (Credit: Public Health England/Science Photo Library)
Since the identification of the disease in 2012, about 1,300 people have become ill and 500 have died. Counting only South Korea, since May there have been 36 deaths and 186 infections. The financial effects are beginning to weigh on the fourth Asian economy: the Minister of Finance has cut the growth estimates for 2015 from 3.8% to 3.1%, due to the slowdown in consumption and tourism. Moreover, the Minister is working on a stimulation plan of 13.5 billion dollars to ensure that the GDP does not fall below 3%.
“An antibody would have been able to limit the epidemic,” commented Lanzavecchia, insisting on the systemic effects of this and other widespread diseases. Most of the infections occurred following contacts in hospitals and with sick relatives. “With the antibodies it would have been possible to treat the patients and provide post-exposure prophylaxis among the people who were in contact with the sick.”
Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that combine with an antigen to destroy it or render it harmless. They are produced, for example, following a vaccination. The new anti-MERS antibody proved to be effective against different strains of the virus. “Our antibody was tested against three major strains and is active against all the isolations of MERS, including the most recent ones of South Korea,” confirms Davide Corti, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Humabs and first author of the publication. The MERS virus belongs to the group of coronaviruses as numerous viral agents responsible for colds and the one responsible for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
The next step is the clinical development, reported Lanzavecchia. For the moment, despite the interest shown by the South Korean government, no company has yet come forward offering commercial production.
The problem, he said, is that as soon as the intensity of an epidemic diminishes, also the interest in treatments declines. This was also the case with SARS, against which the IRB had isolated an antibody.
According to Lanzavecchia, who is also a professor at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), it would have been possible to isolate antibodies against the Ebola virus well before the recent outbreak that chiefly hit Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. For the researcher, antibodies could be more indicated for combatting serious epidemics than for vaccinations, where production times can be very long. “They should at least be part of the fighting strategy.” The development of a drug from an antibody is estimated to cost a few million francs, believes the director of the IRB.
The study also involved British and American researchers, as well as the Ministry of Health from London.
