PMID: 27882950

Authors:

Zhang S, Kostyuchenko VA, Ng TS, Lim XN, Ooi JS, Lambert S, Tan TY, Widman DG, Shi J, Baric RS, Lok SM

Title:

Neutralization mechanism of a highly potent antibody against Zika virus.

Journal:

Nat Commun. 2016 Nov 24;7:13679. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13679.

Abstract:

The rapid spread of Zika virus (ZIKV), which causes microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome, signals an urgency to identify therapeutics. Recent efforts to rescreen dengue virus human antibodies for ZIKV cross-neutralization activity showed antibody C10 as one of the most potent. To investigate the ability of the antibody to block fusion, we determined the cryoEM structures of the C10-ZIKV complex at pH levels mimicking the extracellular (pH8.0), early (pH6.5) and late endosomal (pH5.0) environments. The 4.0 A resolution pH8.0 complex structure shows that the antibody binds to E proteins residues at the intra-dimer interface, and the virus quaternary structure-dependent inter-dimer and inter-raft interfaces. At pH6.5, antibody C10 locks all virus surface E proteins, and at pH5.0, it locks the E protein raft structure, suggesting that it prevents the structural rearrangement of the E proteins during the fusion event-a vital step for infection. This suggests antibody C10 could be a good therapeutic candidate.