Antibodies are special proteins that are produced by the immune system in response to invading pathogens. An antibody can attach itself to the suface of the pathogen, and then blocks the pathogen's ability to infect a cell or tags it for futher immune attack. Scientists have long sought to use antibodies to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Now, a study, published in Immunity and led by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) scientists, shows that an antibody can neutralize 98% of all strains of HIV, making it the most effective HIV antibody to date. Some scientists believe that antibodies that bind to the site used by a virus to infect a human cells may be able to prevent the virus from infecting humans. But HIV has many different strains and binding sites, and it constently mutates, making it hard to treat. Previous studies have shown that there are a subset of HIV-infected patients that can produce broadly-neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). One of bNAbs -- VRC01 -- has been found to neutralize about 90% of HIV strains. In this study, a new antibody called N6 potently neutralized 98 percent of HIV isolates. The researchers wondered why the N6 antibody was so effective. They found that the antibody binds to a region called V5 on the HIV viruses. V5 is a conserved region that undergoes relatively little changes among HIV strain. So N6 can tolerate the changes in the HIV envelope that include mechanisms through which HIV develops resistance to most VRC01-class antibodies. Due to its potency, N6 may offer stronger and more durable prevention and treatment benefits. CusAb produces high quality Biotin conjugated antibody against HIV.
