Rapid discovery and optimization of therapeutic antibodies against emerging infectious diseases

Rogers, J.; Schoepp, R.J.; Schröder, O.; Clements, T.L.; Holland, T.F.; Li, J.Q.; Li, J.; Lewis, L.M.; Dirmeier, R.P.; Frey, G.J.; Tan, X.; Wong, K.; Woodnutt, G.; Keller, M.; Reed, D.S.; Kimmel, B.E.; Tozer, E.C.

Balb/c mice to 1 mm aerosols containing SARS-CoV resulted in viral replication in the lungs and pathology similar to the results reported for intranasal exposure but at a 10-fold lower dose (data not shown). Mice were injected with 2978/10 or an irrelevant control antibody and then immediately challenged with aerosolized SARS. Three days later mice were necropsied and lungs taken for viral isolation, with the exception of two mice that died unexpectedly immediately following the 2978/10 injection and SARS-CoV challenge. At a dose of 15 mg/kg, replication of SARS-CoV in the lung was reduced to $15 000-fold with several animals showing no evidence of SARS virus in the lung (Table IV) .