CR6261 is a
monoclonal antibody
A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell.
Monoclonal antibodies ca ...
that binds to a broad range of the
influenza virus
''Orthomyxoviridae'' (from Greek ὀρθός, ''orthós'' 'straight' + μύξα, ''mýxa'' 'mucus') is a family of negative-sense RNA viruses. It includes seven genera: ''Alphainfluenzavirus'', ''Betainfluenzavirus'', '' Gammainfluenzavirus'', ...
including the 1918 "
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
" (SC1918/H1) and to a virus of the
H5N1
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of typ ...
class of avian influenza that jumped from chickens to a human in Vietnam in 2004 (Viet04/H5). In contrast to most antibodies generated by exposure to influenza, which can only neutralize a few strains from within a single virus subtype, CR6261 neutralizes numerous strains from multiple subtypes. CR6261 recognizes a highly conserved helical region in the membrane-proximal stem of
hemagglutinin
In molecular biology, hemagglutinins (or ''haemagglutinin'' in British English) (from the Greek , 'blood' + Latin , 'glue') are receptor-binding membrane fusion glycoproteins produced by viruses in the ''Paramyxoviridae'' family. Hemagglutinins ar ...
, the predominant protein on the surface of the
influenza virus
''Orthomyxoviridae'' (from Greek ὀρθός, ''orthós'' 'straight' + μύξα, ''mýxa'' 'mucus') is a family of negative-sense RNA viruses. It includes seven genera: ''Alphainfluenzavirus'', ''Betainfluenzavirus'', '' Gammainfluenzavirus'', ...
. Based upon the conservation of the amino acid sequence on this part of hemagglutinin, CR6261 is predicted to neutralize roughly 50% of all flu viruses. It was found by
The Scripps Research Institute
Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institu ...
and the Dutch biopharmaceutical company,
Crucell
Janssen Vaccines, formerly Crucell, is a biotechnology company specializing in vaccines and biopharmaceutical technologies.
It was formed when Johnson & Johnson acquired the Dutch biotech company Crucell based in Leiden and placed it in their ph ...
.
See also
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Immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...
References
Further reading
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Antibodies
Unnamed monoclonal antibodies
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