Vanderbilt uses cancer cells to fight West Nile virus
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center say they have used cancerous cells to mass produce a human antibody that can be used to “neutralize” West Nile virus, a mosquito-transferred illness that kills about 100 people in the U.S. each year.
Their findings, revealed this week in a research paper published in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology, could lead to the first effective treatment for West Nile, according to a news release.
“West Nile virus is still an important cause of brain infections in the U.S., and there is very little we can do to help these patients,” said Dr. James Crowe Jr., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, who was one of the study authors. “It was exciting for us to use our antibody discovery technologies to find naturally occurring human antibodies that can prevent or treat the infection.”
Crowe and other researchers performed the study using blood cell samples from 13 adults who were infected with West Nile during a 2012 outbreak in Dallas. The scientists then isolated white blood cells that produced antibodies and fused them with myeloma cancer cells forming cellular “factories” that rapidly cloned antibodies.
One of those antibodies — known as WNV0-86 — completely inhibited West Nile virus in laboratory mice, protecting them from an infection that would have killed them otherwise, the news release states.
“Further studies are needed before human testing can begin,” the Vanderbilt news release states. “But these findings are raising hopes for development of the first effective way to counter this potentially dangerous infection.”
The study also included contributions from the National Institutes of Health and the Washington University in St. Louis. Vanderbilt contributors included senior research specialist Nurgun Kose, graduate student Michael P. Doyle and Gopal Sapparapu, research assistant professor of pediatrics.
Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.