A team consisting of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in the US and ShanghaiTech University in China has developed a method that renders cells resistant to virus infection, providing a potential way to combat fatal viruses like HIV. The study shows that anchoring antibodies against cell surface virus receptors to the plasma membrane can prevent viruses from entering the cells and spreading infection. The researchers have tested the technique in two models, human rhinovirus and HIV, and the results are encouraging. Viral entry is an early stage of its infection. A virus does this by attachment onto a susceptible cell that has a receptor that the virus can bind to. To date, cell membrane receptors for most viruses are known. If there is a good means to block these receptors with antibodies, it would fight virus infection. In the study, the team firstly tested this concept for human rhinovirus, an important causative agent of common cold. The researchers used a viral vector to deliver a gene into human cells cultured in the lab. This gene caused the cells to produce antibodies against ICAM-1, a cell surface protein that is exploited by rhinovirus as a receptor. These antibodies interacted with ICAM-1, preventing the virus from entering and infecting the cells. The delivery system is unable to reach all cells, so only some of the cells got the protective gene. When exposed to rhinovirus, most cells died but their numbers quickly bounced back. Next, the team tested the same technique against HIV. Because the cell surface receptor CD4 is required for HIV infection, the researchers used antibodies to protect CD4 on immune cells. Results showed that cells bound with these antibodies were protected from HIV challenge. Furthermore, these membrane-bound antibodies were more effective than free-floating, soluble antibodies in inhibiting HIV infection. (Cusabio offers high quality proteins and antibodies such as Recombinant FGFR3.) The findings, which are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are significant because HIV is still incurable although therapies are available to control it. The team plans to access the effectiveness and safety of their new technique. Their findings could have broad implications.
