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Nature Publishes New Research from Vir Biotechnology Demonstrating the Capacity of Enhanced Monoclonal Antibodies to Induce Protective Adaptive Immunity to Viral Infection
Data demonstrate potential to enhance effector function of monoclonal antibodies and induce a protective T-cell or “vaccinal” response Therapeutic approach
About this update from Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Data demonstrate potential to enhance effector function of monoclonal antibodies and induce a protective T-cell or “vaccinal” response Therapeutic approach previously applied to treatment of oncologic diseases may now have broader implications across a range of infectious diseases SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) today announced the publication of preclinical research in an influenza animal model highlighting a new mechanism for enhancing the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies to treat viral infection and induce a protective response. Data demonstrate that selective engagement of an activating Fc receptor on dendritic cells by antiviral monoclonal antibodies induced protective CD8+ T cell adaptive responses. The paper, entitled “Fc-optimized antibodies elicit CD8 immunity to viral respiratory infection,” was published in the October 8, 2020 online edition of Nature.\n “In the past several years, we've gained a better understanding of how integral Fc mediated effector functions of monoclonal antibodies are for their therapeutic efficacy in pre-clinical models of neoplastic, infectious and inflammatory diseases,” said Jeffrey V. Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D., study senior author and Theresa and Eugene M. Lang Professor and Head of the Leonard Wagner Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology at The Rockefeller University. “These approaches have been successfully applied to anti-tumor therapeutics and have resulted in improved clinical outcomes in a variety of oncologic diseases. Our present studies have uncovered a significant new mechanism by which antibodies, through their Fc region, can not only engage innate immune responses but activate adaptive T cell responses, thereby stimulating protective anti-viral immunity in these models.” The research published in Nature focuses on the role of the Fc domain of monoclonal antibodies, regions with the capacity to bind to other immune cells through a family of receptors (the Fc receptors). By engineering antibodies with modified Fc domains to enhance binding to specific Fc receptors on innate immune cells, investigators observed an enhanced protective immune response. Certain modifications (GAALIE variants) were associated with activation of dendritic cells, as well as antiviral effector T-cells, indicating induction of the adaptive arm o...