New treatments to cut the global death rate from dengue, Zika and West Nile viruses could result from research led by The University of Queensland.
An estimated 390 million people are infected with dengue globally each year, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical areas.
Associate Professor Daniel Watterson from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences said the team identified an antibody that improved survival rates in laboratory trials and reduced the presence of virus in the blood.
“We made a discovery in 2015 in the wake of the Zika outbreak that identified a new target for flavivirus treatments, a viral protein called NS1,” Dr Watterson said.
“Now we’ve shown for the first time that a single NS1 antibody can be protective against multiple flaviviruses including dengue, Zika and West Nile.
“No other antibody reported has shown such a broad range of protection.
“The improved protection we saw compared to existing treatments was really unexpected.”
The UQ team worked in collaboration with Professor George Gao, Professor Yi Shi and Dr Hao Song at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The work was supported by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
