Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Filoviruses, especially Ebola virus, cause sporadic outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fever with very high case fatality rates in Africa. The 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa provided large survivor cohorts spurring a large number of human studies which showed that specific neutralising antibodies played a key role in protection following a natural Ebola virus infection, as part of the overall humoral response and in conjunction with the cellular adaptive response. This review will discuss the studies in survivors and animal models which described protective neutralising antibody response. Their mechanisms of action will be detailed. Furthermore, the importance of neutralising antibodies in antibody-based therapeutics and in vaccine-induced responses will be explained, as well as the strategies to avoid immune escape from neutralising antibodies. Understanding the neutralising antibody response in the context of filoviruses is crucial to furthering our understanding of virus structure and function, in addition to improving current vaccines & antibody-based therapeutics.

Original publication

DOI

10.3390/pathogens10091201

Type

Journal article

Journal

Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland)

Publication Date

09/2021

Volume

10

Addresses

Nuffield Department of Medicine, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.