We have examined hamster polyomavirus VP1 virus-like particles (HaPyV VP1 VLPs) as potential carriers of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). Three different HLA-*A–restricted human TAA epitopes: TRP – tyrosinase-related protein- 2 epitope (amino acid sequence FVWLHYYSV), MAGE – the MAGE A family protein epitope (LVHPLLLKY) and HTERT – human telomerase reverse transcriptase ...

Memory T cells cross-reactive with epitopes encoded by related or even unrelated viruses may alter the immune response and pathogenesis of infection by a process known as heterologous immunity. Because a challenge virus epitope may react with only a subset of the T cell repertoire in a cross-reactive epitope-specific memory ...

Rabies is a fatal viral encephalitis which is transmitted by exposure to the bite of rabid animals. Human and equine rabies immunoglobulins are indispensable pharmacological agents for severe bite exposure, as is vaccine. However, several disadvantages, including limited supply, adverse reactions, and high cost, hamper their wide application in developing ...

The gene encoding the capsid protein in ORF1 of the genome of infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) (GenBank AY570982) was amplified into three parts named CP-N (nucleotides 2248-3045), CP-I (nucleotides 3046-3954) and CP-C (nucleotides 3955-4953). The CP-N fragment was inserted into expression vector pTYB1 while CP-I and CP-C were each inserted ...

Although neutralizing antigenic sites of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) can be defined by selection of monoclonal antibody (MAb) escape mutants, no conformational neutralizing epitope on the major antigenic site located on the G-H loop of type Asia1 FMDV has been precisely mapped. In this study, we generated a potent neutralizing ...

In this report we describe the generation of a mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) against the influenza A virus PB1-F2 protein that is derived from a +1 reading frame of the polymerase basic protein (PB1) gene segment. We further present data that the hybridoma subclone F2-6G10 produces antibodies that specifically recognize ...

Highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza viruses are endemic in poultry in Asia and pose a pandemic threat to humans. Since the deployment of vaccines against a pandemic strain may take several months, adequate antiviral alternatives are needed to minimize the effects and the spread of the disease. Passive immunotherapy is ...

We used T cell epitope prediction tools to identify epitopes from Dengue virus polyprotein sequences, and evaluated in vivo and in vitro the immunogenicity and antigenicity of the corresponding synthetic vaccine candidates. Twenty-two epitopes were predicted to have a high affinity for MHC class I (H-2Kd, H-2Dd, H-2Ld alleles) or ...

A novel human antibody AR16, targeting the G5 linear epitope of rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG) was shown to have promising antivirus potency. Using AR16, the minimal binding region within G5 was identified as HDFR (residues 261-264), with key residues HDF (residues 261-263) identified by alanine replacement scanning. The key HDF ...

The generation of a new panel of 32 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) reactive with the P protein of the raccoon strain of rabies virus is described. Through a series of analyses employing competitive ELISA and immunoblotting, these MAbs were classified into eight groups, each defining an antigenic site, thereby increasing the ...

In the absence of a viable 'knockout' mouse, researchers have relied extensively on monoclonal antibody (mAb) RB6-8C5 [anti-granulocyte receptor 1 (Gr-1)] to deplete neutrophils in murine models of inflammation and infection. Using an intranasal model of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, we demonstrate that mAb RB6-8C5 also binds ...

The spread of the recently emerged, highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus has raised concern. Preclinical studies suggest that passive immunotherapy could be a new form of treatment for H5N1 virus infection. Here, a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (MAb) against the hemagglutinin (HA) of the influenza A/chicken/Hatay/2004 H5N1 virus, MAb 9F4, ...

A meta-analysis was performed in order to inventory the immune epitope data related to viruses in the genus Flavivirus. Nearly 2000 epitopes were captured from over 130 individual Flavivirus-related references identified from PubMed and reported as of September 2009. This report includes all epitope structures and associated immune reactivity from ...

In the past decade, enterovirus 71 (EV71) and chikungunya (CHIK) virus have re-emerged periodically causing serious public health problems in Malaysia, since their first emergence in 1997 and 1998 respectively. This study demonstrates that CHIK virus causes similar patterns of cytopathic effect in cultured Vero cells as some enteroviruses. They ...

Melon yellow spot virus (MYSV), a tentative member of the genus Tospovirus, is considered a distinct serotype due to the lack of a serological relationship with other tospoviruses in its nucleocapsid protein (NP). Recently, a virus isolate collected from diseased watermelon in central Taiwan (MYSV-TW) was found to react with ...

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). It is a major public health problem in Asia. JEV infects swine which results in fatal encephalitis, abortion and stillbirth in pregnant sow, and hypospermia in boars. Swine is a viral amplifier, and thus plays a critical role in ...

The target of neutralizing antibodies that protect against influenza virus infection is the viral protein HA. Genetic and antigenic variation in HA has been used to classify influenza viruses into subtypes (H1-H16). The neutralizing antibody response to influenza virus is thought to be specific for a few antigenically related isolates ...

Hemagglutinin protein (HA) was considered to be the primary target for monoclonal antibody production. This protein not only plays an important role in viral infections, but can also be used to differentiate H5N1 virus from other influenza A viruses. Hence, for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, it is important to develop ...

Hemagglutinin molecule is an envelope protein of influenza virus and plays an important role in the infection to human cells. Many mutations are observed in the molecule, which generates sixteen subtypes (H1-H16) of the hemagglutinin molecule for influenza virus A type. The subtypes such as H1, H2, H3, and H5 ...

The non-structural protein NS1 of the influenza A virus is a good target for the development of diagnostic assays. In this study, three NS1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were generated by using recombinant NS1 protein of H5N1 virus and found to bind both the native and denatured forms of NS1. Two ...

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that neutralize human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) have been isolated from HIV-1-infected individuals or animals immunized with recombinant HIV-1 envelope (Env) glycoprotein constructs. The epitopes of these neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) were shown to be located on either the variable or conserved regions of the HIV-1 Env ...

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein (Env) on whole virions is heterogeneous, so molecular analysis of Env with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) is challenging. Virus capture assays (VCAs) involving immobilized MAbs are typically used, but these assays suffer from immobilization artifacts and do not provide binding constants. Furthermore, we ...

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection is usually mild in healthy individuals but can cause severe disease in immunocompromised patients. Prophylaxis with varicella-zoster immunoglobulin can reduce the severity of VZV if given shortly after exposure. Glycoprotein H (gH) is a highly conserved herpesvirus protein with functions in virus entry and cell-cell spread ...

BACKGROUND: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a viral pathogen that belongs to the Picornaviridae family, EV71-infected children can develop severe neurological complications leading to rapid clinical deterioration and death. RESULTS: In this study, several monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced by immunizing mice with the inactived EV71 Henan (Hn2) virus strain. The ...

Differential diagnose of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection from other flavivirus especially West Nile virus (WNV) and Dengue virus (DV) infection was greatly hindered for the serological cross-reactive. Virus specific epitopes could benefit for developing JEV specific antibodies detection methods. To identify the JEV specific epitopes, we fully mapped and ...

New strategies to prevent and treat influenza virus infections are urgently needed. A recently discovered class of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) neutralizing an unprecedented spectrum of influenza virus subtypes may have the potential for future use in humans. Here, we assess the efficacies of CR6261, which is representative of this novel ...

Neutralizing antibody (nAb) response is sporadic and has limited potency and breadth during infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). In rare cases, broad and potent nAbs are actually induced in vivo. Identifying specific epitopes targeted by such broad and potent nAb response is valuable in guiding the design ...

Menangle virus (MenV) is a member of the family Paramyxoviridae isolated in Australia that causes a reproductive disease of pigs. There is a need for specific immunoassays for virus detection to facilitate the diagnosis of MenV infection. Three novel monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) of the IgG1 subtype were generated by immunizing ...

During production of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in mammalian cell culture, it is important to ensure that viral impurities and potential viral contaminants will be removed during downstream purification. Anion exchange chromatography provides a high degree of virus removal from mAb feedstocks, but the mechanism by which this is achieved ...

Junin virus (JUNV), Machupo virus, Guanarito virus, Sabia virus, and Chapare virus are members of New World arenavirus clade B and are the etiological agents of viral hemorrhagic fevers that occur in South America. In this study, we produced three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to the recombinant nucleocapsid protein of JUNV, ...

MOTIVATION: Viruses employ various means to evade immune detection. One common evasion strategy is the removal of CD8+cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes. We here use a combination of multiple bioinformatic tools and large amount of genomic data to compute the epitope repertoire presented by over 1300 viruses in many HLA alleles. We ...

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) variants that are transmitted to newly infected individuals are the primary targets of interventions, such as vaccines and microbicides, aimed at preventing new infections. Newly acquired subtype A, B, and C variants have been the focus of neutralization studies, although many of these ...

The ectodomain of influenza A virus M2 protein (M2e) is composed of 24 amino acids and induces antibodies with inhibitory effect against a broad spectrum of influenza A subtypes in vitro and in vivo. Although relatively conserved, 21 M2e variants emerged in recent influenza A strains, most of the mutations ...

The flavivirus envelope glycoprotein (E) is responsible for viral attachment and entry by membrane fusion. Its ectodomain is the primary target of the humoral immune response. In particular, the C-terminal Ig-like domain III of E, which is exposed at the surface of the viral particle, forms an attractive antigen for ...

The ability to process high-concentration monoclonal antibody solutions (> 10 g/L) through small-pore membranes typically used for virus removal can improve current antibody purification processes by eliminating the need for feed stream dilution, and by reducing filter area, cycle-time, and costs. In this work, we present the screening of virus ...

In the present study, the effect of two haemagglutination-inhibition (HAI)-negative auto-reactive (NHA-1 and NHA-2) monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against glycoprotein E (gpE) of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) administered 1 day before or 2 days after intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation of JEV was studied in mice. Of the two MAbs that cross-reacted with ...

The reactivity of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) prepared to the HA2 glycopeptide (gp) of A/Dunedin/4/73 (H3N2) hemagglutinin was tested against influenza A viruses of H3, H4, and H7 subtypes. Only one (CF2) out of six MAbs reacted with influenza A viruses of all three subtypes (H3, H4 and H7). The inter-subtype ...

BACKGROUND: Passive immunization with human H5 antisera or H5-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) has potential as an effective treatment for acute H5N1 influenza virus infection, but its efficacy against antigenically diverse H5N1 viruses is unconfirmed. METHODS: Cross-protection against antigenically diverse H5N1 strains with H5-specific MAbs, generated by successive immunization of antigenically ...

The mammalian cell-lines used to produce biopharmaceutical products are known to produce endogenous retrovirus-like particles and have the potential to foster adventitious viruses as well. To ensure product safety and regulatory compliance, recovery processes must be capable of removing or inactivating any viral impurities or contaminants which may be present. ...

The stability of 3 monoclonal antibodies was analyzed at various temperatures and freeze/thaw cycles. Two varicella-zoster virus (VZV) IgGs (mAb 4F9 and mAb g62) and 1 herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1 mAb 1D4) were selected for these studies. IgGs were either incubated at various temperatures (25 degrees C, 37 degrees ...

Interest in the potential of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to serve as therapeutic agents has surged in the past decade with a major emphasis on human viral diseases. There has been much attention in this area directed towards the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) and promising research developments have emerged on ...

The pathogenesis of persistent viral infections depends critically on long-term viral loads. Yet what determines these loads is largely unknown. Here, we show that a single CD8+ T cell epitope sets the long-term latent load of a lymphotropic gamma-herpesvirus, Murid herpesvirus-4 (MuHV-4). The MuHV-4 M2 latency gene contains an H2-Kd ...

Most karyophilic proteins are transported into the nucleus through the importin-mediated pathway. Importin alpha acts as a receptor for classical nuclear localization signal (NLS)-containing proteins. At present, the existence of several isoforms of importin alpha in mammals is known. In this study we report on the generation of a rat ...

BACKGROUND: Xenotransplantation with pig organs is being considered to alleviate donor organ shortages; however, the risk of introducing porcine viruses into humans is heightened in this setting. The goal of this study was to determine the infectious potential of porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), a xenozoonotic virus of interest, in human fibroblasts ...

Influenza is one of the most prevalent viral diseases in humans. For some high-risk human populations, including the infant, the elderly, and the immunocompromised, who may not benefit from active immunization, passive immunotherapy with antibodies reactive with all influenza A strains may be an alternative. In this study, we characterized ...

At least two biotypes were observed at the 2nd passage stage after the isolation of Foot-and-mouth disease Virus (FMDV) O/JPN/2000 strain. These 2 types of viruses differed from their plaque phenotypes and were distinguishable by using a monoclonal antibody (MAb) 64G8 that was made for the FMDV O/JPN/2000 strain. One ...

A double antibody sandwich ELISA for quantification of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) whole virus particle was developed using two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against FMD virus (FMDV) serotype O and A. The antibody binding epitopes were characterized. The two mAbs reacted with all of the tested FMDV strains. The use of these ...

Sulfatide is abundantly expressed in various mammalian organs, including the intestines and trachea, in which influenza A viruses (IAVs) replicate. However, the function of sulfatide in IAV infection remains unknown. Sulfatide is synthesized by two transferases, ceramide galactosyltransferase (CGT) and cerebroside sulfotransferase (CST), and is degraded by arylsulfatase A (ASA). ...

A challenge in hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine development is defining conserved protective epitopes. A cluster of these epitopes comprises an immunodominant domain on the E2 glycoprotein, designated domain B. CBH-2 is a neutralizing human monoclonal antibody to a domain B epitope that is highly conserved. Alanine scanning demonstrated that ...

The gene sequence encoding VP3 capsid protein of Taura syndrome virus (TSV) was cloned into pGEX-6P-1 expression vector and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. After induction, recombinant GST-VP3 (rVP3) fusion protein was obtained and further purified by electro-elution before use in immunizing Swiss mice for production of monoclonal antibodies (MAb). ...