Cross-reactivity of human monoclonal antibodies generated with peripheral blood lymphocytes from dengue patients with Japanese encephalitis virus

Abstract

Chonlatip Pipattanaboon,1,3,8,* Tadahiro Sasaki,2,8,* Mitsuhiro Nishimura,2,8 Chayanee Setthapramote,1,8 Pannamthip Pitaksajjakul,1,4,8 Pornsawan Leaungwutiwong,1,3,8 Kriengsak Limkittikul,5,8 Orapim Puiprom,6 Mikiko Sasayama,6 Panjaporn Chaichana,6 Tamaki Okabayashi,6 Takeshi Kurosu,2,8 Ken-ichiro Ono,7,8 Pongrama Ramasoota,1,4,8 Kazuyoshi Ikuta2,8 1Center of Excellence for Antibody Research, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; 2Department of Virology, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan; 3Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 4Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, 5Department of Tropical Pediatrics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 6Mahidol-Osaka Center for Infectious Diseases, Bangkok, Thailand; 7Medical and Biological Laboratories Corporation Ltd, Nagano, Japan; 8JST/JICA, Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development, Tokyo, Japan *These authors made an equal contribution to this study Background: Hybridomas that produce human monoclonal antibodies (HuMAbs) against Dengue virus (DV) had been prepared previously using peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with DV during the acute and convalescent phases of a secondary infection. Anti-DV envelope glycoprotein (E) 99 clones, anti-DV premembrane protein (prM) 8 clones, and anti-DV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) 4 clones were derived from four acute-phase patients, and anti-DV E 2 clones, anti-DV prM 2 clones, and anti-DV NS1 8 clones were derived from five convalescent-phase patients. Methods and results: In the present study, we examined whether these clones cross-reacted with Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), which belongs to the same virus family. Forty-six of the above-described 99 (46/99) anti-E, 0/8 anti-prM, and 2/4 anti-NS1 HuMAbs from acute-phase, and 0/2 anti-E, 0/2 anti-prM, and 5/8 anti-NS1 HuMAbs from convalescent-phase showed neutralizing activity against JEV. Thus, most of the anti-E and anti-NS1 (but not the anti-prM) antibodies cross-reacted with JEV and neutralized this virus. Interestingly, 3/46 anti-E HuMAbs derived from acute-phase patients and 3/5 anti-NS1 HuMAbs from convalescent-phase patients showed particularly high neutralizing activity against JEV. Consequently, the HuMAbs showing neutralization against JEV mostly consisted of two populations: one was HuMAbs recognizing DV E and showing neutralization activity against all four DV serotypes (complex-type) and the other was HuMAbs recognizing DV NS1 and showing subcomplex-type cross-reaction with DV. Conclusion: Anti-DV E from acute phase (46/99) and anti-DV NS1 (7/12) indicate neutralizing activity against JEV. In particular, three of 46 anti-DV E clones from acute phase and three of five anti-NS1 clones from convalescent phase showed strong neutralizing activity against JEV. Keywords: Dengue virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, viral neutralization, human monoclonal antibody, envelope, nonstructural protein 1