甲型流感病毒H7N9血凝素单克隆抗体的制备及保护性研究

Preparation and protection of monoclonal antibody against H7N9 influenza virus hemagglutinin

以H7N9甲型流感病毒(A/Shanghai/2/2013)全病毒灭活疫苗原液为免疫原免疫BALB/c小鼠,采用杂交瘤技术制备抗甲型流感病毒H7N9血凝素(HA)的单克隆抗体.通过ELISA和血凝抑制(HI)试验初步筛选单克隆抗体,筛选后的Ig G类单克隆抗体用中和试验检测其中和活性.将有中和活性的单抗通过小鼠体内法大量制备腹水,腹水经亲和层析柱纯化后进行特异性及稳定性检测.同时在小鼠模型中进行了HA单克隆抗体抵抗同源流感病毒感染的预防性和治疗性实验,通过观察小鼠的症状并统计小鼠的存活率、体重变化和肺部病毒滴度等指标发现单抗6A3在预防性和治疗性实验中都可以有效地抵抗H7N9流感病毒的感染.显著降低肺部病毒滴度,对小鼠提供100%的保护.甲型流感病毒H7N9血凝素单克隆抗体的成功制备为进一步研究H7N9流感病毒血凝素的抗原表位及治疗诊断试剂的开发奠定了基础.

The first human infection with novel H7N9 influenza virus was reported in March 2013 in China. To date, the H7N9 influenza viruses possess a potential pandemic threat to public health worldwide and have caused severe infection and high mortality in humans in China. The latent period of human infection of H7N9 influenza virus is generally within 7 days. Patients usually show flu like symptoms, such as runny nose, sore throat, fever, cough, headache and muscle pain. Severe patients have rapid development, characterized by severe pneumonia and dyspnea. Antibodies play a major role in protective immunity against the influenza virus infection, and passive immunization with monoclonal antibodies（MAbs） specific to viral proteins might be a potential option for humans against lethal infection of the influenza viruses. It is known that hemagglutinin（HA）, is the major viral antigenic protein on the influenza virus particle and the primary target of neutralizing antibodies against influenza virus. In this study, in order to obtain the HA MAbs of influenza virus H7N9（A/Shanghai/2/2013）, study their biology characteristics, and evaluate the prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of the HA MAbs in mouse model. The BALB/c mice were immunized with inactivated H7N9 vaccine by subcutaneous administration for three times, and boosted with inactivated H7N9 vaccine by the tail vein three days before fusion. Finally, 28 MAbs were obtained and identified by ELISA and hemagglutination inhibition test（HI）. Eight IgG subtype MAbs（1 A8, 2 A12, 2 H3, 4 A11, 4 C8, 4 G5, 6 A3, 7 G2） were selected to identify their biology characteristics. The ELISA titers of ascites of the eight MAbs were 102–106. The eight Mabs exhibited high affinity which can reach nmol/L level and meet the requirement of affinity for monoclonal antibody drug. The immunofluorescence assay indicated that the eight MAbs had excellent specificity for HA protein expressed in 293 T cell and were able to recognize the H7N9 influenza virus particles. In addition, all the eight MAbs could inhibit HA activity and the MAbs 2 H3, 4 A11, 4 G5 and 6 A3 can also present neutralization activity against the H7N9 live virus. The highest neutralizing titer was up to 1：14125. At the same time, we evaluated the prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of these MAbs against the homologous H7N9 strain. The activity against H7N9 virus was evaluated by clinical syndromes, survival rates and lung viral titers. The results showed that in the prophylactic and therapeutic experiments, MAb 6 A3 can inhibit effectively H7N9 influenza virus infection, provided 100% protection and remarkably reduced the lung viral titers in mouse model. The HA monoclonal antibodies against influenza virus H7N9 were successfully obtained. The HA MAbs not only may be as a prophylactic and therapeutic measure to prevent H7N9 influenza virus infection, but also laid the foundation for us to research the H7N9 HA antigen epitope and develop diagnostic reagents.