Abstract
Emerging rodent-borne hantaviruses cause severe diseases in humans with no approved vaccines or therapeutics. We recently isolated a monoclonal broadly neutralizing antibody (nAb) from a Puumala virus–experienced human donor. Here, we report its structure bound to its target, the Gn/Gc glycoprotein heterodimer comprising the viral fusion complex. The structure explains the broad activity of the nAb: It recognizes conserved Gc fusion loop sequences and the main chain of variable Gn sequences, thereby straddling the Gn/Gc heterodimer and locking it in its prefusion conformation. We show that the nAb’s accelerated dissociation from the divergent Andes virus Gn/Gc at endosomal acidic pH limits its potency against this highly lethal virus and correct this liability by engineering an optimized variant that sets a benchmark as a candidate pan-hantavirus therapeutic.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | eadg1855 |
Journal | Science translational medicine |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 700 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 14 2023 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine