About This Project

Rabies infection is almost always fatal in humans. The current treatment for a bite from a rabid animal (injection of human serum from immunized people) is often in short supply, especially in developing world settings. We aim to find antibodies from a rabies-vaccinated donor, using blood taken just weeks after vaccination. By sequencing the antibody genes present in these cells, we can make antibodies, providing less expensive and readily available treatment for the virus.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Over 60,000 people die needlessly from rabies each year. This is mostly due to lack of affordable, accessible treatment. In the past, blood banks would collect blood donations from immune people and separate the antibody portion of the blood as "immune globulin". This somewhat old-school approach is still used to generate rabies immune globulin to treat patients who suffer bites from rabid animals. The problem is that there aren't that many rabies vaccinated people around, and this immune globulin is often in short supply, especially in developing countries where rabies is common. Our research will address the desperate need for an alternative treatment option by isolating human monoclonal antibodies against rabies virus.

What is the significance of this project?

For a previously unvaccinated individual, the standard post-exposure treatment consists of three doses of vaccine combined with human immune globulin given at the site of the wound. Because immune globulin must be harvested from the plasma of vaccinated individuals, this treatment is in limited supply, making it inaccessible to many people in developing countries. Monoclonal antibodies are a promising alternative to polyclonal immunoglobulin because they can be mass-produced and manufactured as biological drugs. These antibodies could become the standard treatment for animal bites throughout the world, solving the problem of the intermittent supply of rabies immune globulin and saving lives.

What are the goals of the project?

We plan to isolate human monoclonal antibody-secreting cells that are specific for rabies virus from donor blood. Our laboratory has developed techniques that allow us to search the blood cells of immune people to find cells specific for a particular pathogen. We will isolate the genes for that rabies antibody from the cell, then make the single antibody over and over again in the lab. We will then screen to identify antibodies that are most active in the killing of rabies virus in the laboratory. These will be prepared as protein drugs for further testing. With one or more rabies monoclonal antibodies in hand, we would no longer need immune donors from whom to collect immune globulin. This would allow us to have an unending source of rabies antibody.