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Critical Reviews in Biotechnology Volume 37, 2017 - Issue 1
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Review Article

Anti-Ebola therapies based on monoclonal antibodies: current state and challenges ahead

Everardo González-GonzálezCentro de Biotecnología-FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico,
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Mario Moisés AlvarezCentro de Biotecnología-FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, ;Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, ;Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, ;Microsystems Technologies Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, Correspondence[email protected] [email protected]
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Alan Roberto Márquez-IpiñaCentro de Biotecnología-FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico,
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Grissel Trujillo-de SantiagoCentro de Biotecnología-FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, ;Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, ;Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, ;Microsystems Technologies Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA,
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Luis Mario Rodríguez-MartínezCentro de Biotecnología-FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico,
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Nasim AnnabiBiomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, ;Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, ;Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA,
&
Ali KhademhosseiniBiomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, ;Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, ;Microsystems Technologies Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, ;Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA, ;Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and ;Department of Bioindustrial Technologies, College of Animal Bioscience and Technology, Konkuk University, Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Pages 53-68 | Received 16 Mar 2015, Accepted 21 Oct 2015, Published online: 26 Nov 2015
 
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Abstract

The 2014 Ebola outbreak, the largest recorded, took us largely unprepared, with no available vaccine or specific treatment. In this context, the World Health Organization declared that the humanitarian use of experimental therapies against Ebola Virus (EBOV) is ethical. In particular, an experimental treatment consisting of a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) produced in tobacco plants and specifically directed to the EBOV glycoprotein (GP) was tested in humans, apparently with good results. Several mAbs with high affinity to the GP have been described. This review discusses our current knowledge on this topic. Particular emphasis is devoted to those mAbs that have been assayed in animal models or humans as possible therapies against Ebola. Engineering aspects and challenges for the production of anti-Ebola mAbs are also briefly discussed; current platforms for the design and production of full-length mAbs are cumbersome and costly.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. MMA gratefully acknowledge the institutional funding received from Tecnológico de Monterrey (seed funding to Strategic Research Groups, 2014) and funding provided by CONACyT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México) in the form of a sabbatical scholarship (262130) and student scholarships for ARMI and EGG. GTdS gratefully acknowledge the funding received by CONACyT (scholarship 234713) and Fundación México in Harvard in the form of postdoctoral scholarships. AK and NA acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation (EFRI-1240443), IMMODGEL (602694), and the National Institutes of Health (EB012597, AR057837, DE021468, HL099073, AI105024, AR063745).

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