中国科研人员发现寨卡病毒抗体
Chinese researchers have identified two Zika antibodies from an infected patient that could provide mice with complete protection against the mosquito-borne virus.
中国的科研人员在一位感染寨卡病毒的病人身上发现两种抗体，这两种抗体可以保护小白鼠完全免受寨卡病毒的伤害。
The finding could lead to the development of anti-Zika therapies and vaccines for humans.
The researchers isolated immune B cells from the blood of an infected patient who had come back to China from Venezuela. The patient recovered from the virus after treatment, but also provided scientists with a total of 13 antibodies that were confirmed to bind to the virus.
Two of these antibodies, known as Z23 and Z3L1, had the potential to eliminate the Zika virus altogether under laboratory conditions.
Yan Jinghua, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology, said the antibodies appear to exclusively target the Zika virus.
"We seldom have a drug with specificity for the treatment of a viral disease, however, this antibody has high specificity for Zika virus. After the mice were infected with Zika, we gave them the antibody therapy. The virus was then completely eliminated."
Structural analysis has suggested that the two antibodies block infection by targeting sites on the virus' envelope protein, which is known to facilitate virus entry into cells.