title: Monoclonal antibody AP33 defines a broadly neutralizing epitope on the hepatitis C virus E2 envelope glycoprotein.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a significant threat to the general health of the world's population, and there is a pressing need for the development of new treatments and preventative vaccines. Here, we describe the generation of retrovirus-based pseudoparticles (HCVpp) incorporating a panel of full-length E1E2 clones representative of the major genotypes 1 through 6, and their application to assess the reactivity and neutralizing capability of antisera and monoclonal antibodies raised against portions of the HCV E2 envelope protein. Rabbit antisera raised against either the first hypervariable region or ectodomain of E2 showed limited and strain specific neutralization. By contrast, the monoclonal antibody (MAb) AP33 demonstrated potent neutralization of infectivity against HCVpp carrying E1E2 representative of all genotypes tested. The concentration of AP33 required to achieve 50% inhibition of infection by HCVpp of diverse genotypes ranged from 0.6 to 32 mug/ml. The epitope recognized by MAb AP33 is linear and highly conserved across different genotypes of HCV. Thus, identification of a broadly neutralizing antibody that recognizes a linear epitope is likely to be of significant benefit to future vaccine and therapeutic antibody development.
authors.affiliation: MRC Virology Unit, Institute of Virology, University of Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Ania
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Owsianka
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Tarr
authors.forename: Vicky S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Juttla
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lavillette
authors.forename: Birke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bartosch
authors.forename: François-Loïc
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Cosset
authors.forename: Jonathan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.forename: Arvind H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Patel
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C091015:glycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virus