One antibody can block the ability of the dengue virus to cause disease in mice, researchers have found.
The findings open the potential for developing effective treatments and designing a vaccine for dengue and similar diseases.
Dengue virus, a member of a group of viruses called flaviviruses, causes 50 to 100 million cases of dengue disease each year, with no effective treatment or vaccine. Other members of this group include the viruses that cause Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile fever.
As reported in
Science, an antibody called 2B7 neutralizes one specific protein the virus makes a protein key to the dengue virus’s ability to both replicate and cause disease.