Università della Svizzera italiana

Development of broad‐spectrum human monoclonal antibodies for rabies post‐exposure prophylaxis

De Benedictis, Paola ; Minola, Andrea ; Rota Nodari, Elena ; Aiello, Roberta ; Zecchin, Barbara ; Salomoni, Angela ; Foglierini, Mathilde ; Agatic, Gloria ; Vanzetta, Fabrizia ; Lavenir, Rachel ; Lepelletier, Anthony ; Bentley, Emma ; Weiss, Robin ; Cattoli, Giovanni ; Capua, Ilaria ; Sallusto, Federica ; Wright, Edward ; Lanzavecchia, Antonio ; Bourhy, Hervé ; Corti, Davide

In: EMBO molecular medicine, 2016, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 407-421

Currently available rabies post‐exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for use in humans includes equine or human rabies immunoglobulins (RIG). The replacement of RIG with an equally or more potent and safer product is strongly encouraged due to the high costs and limited availability of existing RIG. In this study, we identified two broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies that represent a...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Crystal structure and size-dependent neutralization properties of HK20, a human monoclonal antibody binding to the highly conserved heptad repeat 1 of gp41

Sabin, Charles ; Corti, Davide ; Buzon, Victor ; Seaman, Mike S. ; Hulsik, David Lutje ; Hinz, Andreas ; Vanzetta, Fabrizia ; Agatic, Gloria ; Silacci, Chiara ; Mainetti, Lara ; Scarlatti, Gabriella ; Sallusto, Federica ; Weiss, Robin ; Lanzavecchia, Antonio ; Weissenhorn, Winfried

In: Plos pathogens, 2010, vol. 6, no. 11, p. e1001195

The human monoclonal antibody (mAb) HK20 neutralizes a broad spectrum of primary HIV-1 isolates by targeting the highly conserved heptad repeat 1 (HR1) of gp41, which is transiently exposed during HIV-1 entry. Here we present the crystal structure of the HK20 Fab in complex with a gp41 mimetic 5-Helix at 2.3 A° resolution. HK20 employs its heavy chain CDR H2 and H3 loops to bind into a...