Abstract
Protective Ebola virus (EBOV) antibodies have neutralizing activity and induction of antibody constant domain (Fc)-mediated innate immune effector functions. Efforts to enhance Fc effector functionality often focus on maximizing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, yet distinct combinations of functions could be critical for antibody-mediated protection. As neutralizing antibodies have been cloned from EBOV disease survivors, we sought to identify survivor Fc effector profiles to help guide Fc optimization strategies. Survivors developed a range of functional antibody responses, and we therefore applied a rapid, high-throughput Fc engineering platform to define the most protective profiles. We generated a library of Fc variants with identical antigen-binding fragments (Fabs) from an EBOV neutralizing antibody. Fc variants with antibody-mediated complement deposition and moderate natural killer (NK) cell activity demonstrated complete protective activity in a stringent in vivo mouse model. Our findings highlight the importance of specific effector functions in antibody-mediated protection, and the experimental platform presents a generalizable resource for identifying correlates of immunity to guide therapeutic antibody design.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 815-828.e5 |
Journal | Immunity |
Volume | 54 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 13 2021 |
Keywords
- ADCC
- Ebola virus
- Fc effector function
- antibody engineering
- complement
- humoral immunity
- infectious diseases
- monoclonal antibody therapeutics
- phagocytosis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases