Antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of viral infections

Salazar, Georgina; Zhang, Ningyan; Fu, Tong-Ming; An, Zhiqiang

circulating polyclonal antibodies in the sera of immunized or naturally infected animals or humans (Fig. 4) . These protocols combine the power of proteomics and next-generation sequencing (NGS). 17, 18, 38, 39 The approach involves affinity purification of antibodies with antigen specificity followed by analysis of proteolytically digested antibody fractions by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Peptide spectral matches of antibody variable regions are obtained by searching a reference database created by NGS of the B-cell immunoglobulin repertoire of the immunized animal or human. Finally, heavy and light chain sequences are paired and expressed as recombinant mAbs. 17, 18, 38 Using this approach, mAbs targeting HBV and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) were cloned from human donors. 38 This approach provides an alternative method to isolate potent viral neutralizing antibodies for therapeutic purposes. Further, it promotes a deeper understanding of the humoral response.