RESUMO
Rapidly evolving influenza A viruses (IAVs) and influenza B viruses (IBVs) are major causes of recurrent lower respiratory tract infections. Current influenza vaccines elicit antibodies predominantly to the highly variable head region of haemagglutinin and their effectiveness is limited by viral drift1 and suboptimal immune responses2. Here we describe a neuraminidase-targeting monoclonal antibody, FNI9, that potently inhibits the enzymatic activity of all group 1 and group 2 IAVs, as well as Victoria/2/87-like, Yamagata/16/88-like and ancestral IBVs. FNI9 broadly neutralizes seasonal IAVs and IBVs, including the immune-evading H3N2 strains bearing an N-glycan at position 245, and shows synergistic activity when combined with anti-haemagglutinin stem-directed antibodies. Structural analysis reveals that D107 in the FNI9 heavy chain complementarity-determinant region 3 mimics the interaction of the sialic acid carboxyl group with the three highly conserved arginine residues (R118, R292 and R371) of the neuraminidase catalytic site. FNI9 demonstrates potent prophylactic activity against lethal IAV and IBV infections in mice. The unprecedented breadth and potency of the FNI9 monoclonal antibody supports its development for the prevention of influenza illness by seasonal and pandemic viruses.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Antivirais , Especificidade de Anticorpos , Vírus da Influenza A , Vírus da Influenza B , Vacinas contra Influenza , Influenza Humana , Mimetismo Molecular , Neuraminidase , Animais , Humanos , Camundongos , Anticorpos Monoclonais/química , Anticorpos Monoclonais/imunologia , Anticorpos Monoclonais/uso terapêutico , Anticorpos Antivirais/química , Anticorpos Antivirais/imunologia , Anticorpos Antivirais/uso terapêutico , Especificidade de Anticorpos/imunologia , Arginina/química , Domínio Catalítico , Hemaglutininas Virais/imunologia , Vírus da Influenza A/classificação , Vírus da Influenza A/enzimologia , Vírus da Influenza A/imunologia , Vírus da Influenza A Subtipo H3N2/enzimologia , Vírus da Influenza A Subtipo H3N2/imunologia , Vírus da Influenza B/classificação , Vírus da Influenza B/enzimologia , Vírus da Influenza B/imunologia , Vacinas contra Influenza/química , Vacinas contra Influenza/imunologia , Vacinas contra Influenza/uso terapêutico , Influenza Humana/imunologia , Influenza Humana/prevenção & controle , Neuraminidase/antagonistas & inibidores , Neuraminidase/química , Neuraminidase/imunologia , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/imunologia , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/prevenção & controle , Estações do Ano , Ácidos Siálicos/químicaRESUMO
Invasive fungal infections cause significant morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised individuals, posing an urgent need for new antifungal therapeutic strategies. Here we investigate a chromatin-interacting module, the bromodomain (BD) from the BET family of proteins, as a potential antifungal target in Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen. We show that the BET protein Bdf1 is essential in C. albicans and that mutations inactivating its two BDs result in a loss of viability in vitro and decreased virulence in mice. We report small-molecule compounds that inhibit C. albicans Bdf1 with high selectivity over human BDs. Crystal structures of the Bdf1 BDs reveal binding modes for these inhibitors that are sterically incompatible with the human BET-binding pockets. Furthermore, we report a dibenzothiazepinone compound that phenocopies the effects of a Bdf1 BD-inactivating mutation on C. albicans viability. These findings establish BET inhibition as a promising antifungal therapeutic strategy and identify Bdf1 as an antifungal drug target that can be selectively inhibited without antagonizing human BET function.