Broadly neutralizing antibodies to dengue virus

India has a disproportionate burden of dengue virus infections. Three live-attenuated dengue vaccines have been licensed for human use in the last few years but each of these vaccines have shown variable efficacy, or in some cases, no efficacy for one or more of the four dengue virus serotypes. None of these vaccines have been licensed in India yet. There are no antivirals for dengue despite the increasing burden of dengue cases every year. Human monoclonal antibodies complement other efforts to tackle diseases especially in situations where vaccines cannot work – such as the very young, or old, immunocompromised or individuals with vaccine hesitancy.

From hundreds of human monoclonal antibodies that we generated, we screened them for specificity to dengue, and their ability to neutralize all four serotypes of the dengue virus. We have now identified three human monoclonal antibodies D-TRC-I62-18; DTRC-I-62-19 and DTRC-I-40-03 that potently neutralize all four serotypes of the dengue virus – both WHO reference strains and viruses that are currently circulating in India. These are the three antibodies that we are now applying for a patent.

Any person suffering from dengue virus infection. In absence of drugs, these mabs will allow for neutralization of the virus in vivo.

We have generated human monoclonal antibodies from single cell sorting of B cells from confirmed dengue patients, and recovered individuals. The antibodies being made by these B cells was then single cell cloned, and expressed in mammalian expression systems and the human monoclonal antibodies were purified.

Indian patent filed on 23-12-2024, CBR number 75685