Constant exposure to diverse diseases is an occupational hazard for all healthcare workers, especially those who work with children. Scientists have now plumbed the immune systems of pediatricians to unearth antibodies the doctors have developed against common respiratory viruses, which the researchers next hope to turn into new medicines for the illnesses.
Two of the promising antibodies shut down strains of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in rodents, rendering them noninfective, and further protected against illness. A third showed promise against both RSV and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). The results appeared in Science Translational Medicine on Feb. 18.
“Given that pediatricians are repeatedly exposed to RSV-infected children during their daily clinical practice,” the researchers hypothesized that they might develop a “super-immune” response to the virus, Xiangxi Wang, Ph.D., a biologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biophysics and senior author of the study, told Fierce Biotech.
Wang and his colleagues are now determined to turn the antibodies, especially a cocktail of CNR2056, which targets RSV, and CNR2047, which binds to hMPV, “into next-generation prophylactic or therapeutic agents,” he said.
The focus right now is on preclinical safety and pharmacokinetic studies, Wang elaborated, which will then be followed by submission of an investigational new drug application. The team is also exploring potential pharma partnerships to speed up clinical development.
While severe RSV infections can be prevented in adults using vaccines, patients with compromised immune systems aren’t able to get the shots and need other protective options, the researchers wrote in their paper, and options for kids are even more limited. hMPV, meanwhile, currently has no vaccine or treatment options. Both viruses can cause diseases ranging in severity from the common cold to pneumonia, and both can be fatal.
To find new antiviral antibodies, the scientists drew blood from 10 seasoned pediatricians at the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and extracted memory B cells, the immune cells in charge of antibody production, from three of them. The pediatricians had average circulating levels of RSV antibodies that were three times greater than that of 14 control subjects, the researchers reported.
The hunt for new antibodies is also continuing, Wang told Fierce. The scientists have already isolated antibodies from patients with persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, and they are also continuing to probe pediatricians for hMPV antibodies, “given that hMPV is a major respiratory pathogen in children under five.”
Not content to stop there, Wang and colleagues are also scanning samples from blood donors to find antibodies for rabies virus, he said.
The new study builds on past efforts to find RSV antibodies in patients naturally infected by the virus. A similar, but much more extreme, example is the story of Tim Friede, who purposefully exposed himself to different snake venoms over the course of 18 years to build up immunity. A study of Friede’s blood led to a three-part antibody cocktail that protected mice from the venom of 13 dangerous snakes.