Scientists create antibody ‘cocktail’ to fight deadly Lassa virus

Antibodies are a crucial ingredient in preventing infection for a wide variety of viruses. Scientists are frequently looking for new antibodies that could help fight viral infections. One deadly virus, the Lassa virus, infects hundreds of thousands of people annually, predominantly in Africa, causing its namesake: Lassa fever. There is as yet no approved vaccine or therapeutic against Lassa fever. Now, however, scientists have identified three major monoclonal antibodies — artificial proteins that act like antibodies in the immune system — that can be used to potentially form the basis of a new vaccine that could save tens of thousands of lives a year. The research team was led by Erica Ollmann Saphire, the president and CEO of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, an organization dedicated to understanding and combating infectious diseases. Researchers from LJI used the bright X-ray beams produced by the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of...