Researchers neutralize SARS virus in non-human tissue cultures.

2003 NOV 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A team of scientists from the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in Jamaica Plain and at the Medical School's Worcester campus, in partnership with researchers at Medarex, Inc. (MEDX), plan to announce they have neutralized the SARS virus in non-human tissue cultures.

The breakthrough was accomplished using antibodies from genetically engineered mice immunized with a protein the SARS virus uses to infect cells. Researchers believe this advance may lead to treatments to prevent infection with SARS after individuals have been exposed to the virus, and potentially to therapeutic products to treat those already infected.

This important progress comes just 6 months after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control provided the SARS virus to UMMS to launch this research.

"We believe this is a very important and very exciting breakthrough," said Donna Ambrosino, MD, director of the MBL and a professor of pediatrics at the Medical School. "We've got mice producing the right antibody, so we hope it's only a matter of time before we isolate the one cell that will become the basis for a monoclonal antibody to prevent SARS in individuals exposed to the illness."

The advance came from MBL's success in producing a protein from the SARS virus that results in attachment and entry into cells. If that protein, or portions of the protein, could be blocked, it is believed that the virus would not be able to infect the host. To test the theory, the protein was introduced in specialized mice developed by Medarex that produce fully human antibodies when immunized.

After immunization with the protein, the mice responded with human antibodies that bind to the protein. Sera from those mice were taken and tested against the live SARS virus in tissue culture. The antibodies in the sera neutralized the virus's ability to infect cells in the culture.

"We are extremely pleased with the progress that has resulted from the collaborative efforts of the scientists at MBL, UMass Medical School and Medarex," said Donald L. Drakeman, president and chief executive officer of Medarex, Inc. "In addition, we ...