Cross-Reactive Fc-Fused Single-Domain Antibodies to Hemagglutinin Stem Region Protect Mice from Group 1 Influenza a Virus Infection
Daria V. Voronina,
Dmitry V. Shcheblyakov,
Irina A. Favorskaya,
Ilias B. Esmagambetov,
Alina S. Dzharullaeva,
Amir I. Tukhvatulin,
Olga V. Zubkova,
Olga Popova,
Vladislav Y. Kan,
Alina S. Bandelyuk,
Maxim M. Shmarov,
Denis Y. Logunov,
Boris S. Naroditskiy,
Aleksandr L. Gintsburg
Affiliations
Daria V. Voronina
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Dmitry V. Shcheblyakov
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Irina A. Favorskaya
Medical Microbiology Department, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Ilias B. Esmagambetov
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Alina S. Dzharullaeva
Medical Microbiology Department, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Amir I. Tukhvatulin
Medical Microbiology Department, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Olga V. Zubkova
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Olga Popova
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Vladislav Y. Kan
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Alina S. Bandelyuk
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Maxim M. Shmarov
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Denis Y. Logunov
Medical Microbiology Department, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Boris S. Naroditskiy
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Aleksandr L. Gintsburg
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Bacteria, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after the Honorary Academician N. F. Gamaleya, 123098 Moscow, Russia
The continued evolution of influenza viruses reduces the effectiveness of vaccination and antiviral drugs. The identification of novel and universal agents for influenza prophylaxis and treatment is an urgent need. We have previously described two potent single-domain antibodies (VHH), G2.3 and H1.2, which bind to the stem domain of hemagglutinin and efficiently neutralize H1N1 and H5N2 influenza viruses in vivo. In this study, we modified these VHHs with Fc-fragment to enhance their antiviral activity. Reformatting of G2.3 into bivalent Fc-fusion molecule increased its in vitro neutralizing activity against H1N1 and H2N3 viruses up to 80-fold and, moreover, resulted in obtaining the ability to neutralize H5N2 and H9N2 subtypes. We demonstrated that a dose as low as 0.6 mg/kg of G2.3-Fc or H1.2-Fc administered systemically or locally before infection could protect mice from lethal challenges with both H1N1 and H5N2 viruses. Furthermore, G2.3-Fc reduced the lung viral load to an undetectable level. Both VHH-Fc antibodies showed in vivo therapeutic efficacy when delivered via systemic or local route. The findings support G2.3-Fc as a potential therapeutic agent for both prophylaxis and therapy of Group 1 influenza A infection.