A “SIGNIFICANT” breakthrough in the battle to combat measles has been made by scientists who have developed new vaccines, raising hopes of eradicating the disease for good.
American researchers have discovered exactly how a neutralizing antibody can block the highly contagious virus.
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They explained that when the measles virus encounters a human cell, the viral machinery unfolds to reveal key parts that allow it to fuse with the host cell membrane.
Once the fusion process is complete, the human cell is a “lost case” and belongs to the virus.
Scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) in California are working to develop new measles vaccines and therapeutics that disrupt this fusion process.
Recently, they used an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy to provide a detailed picture of how a powerful antibody can neutralize the virus before it completes the fusion process.
Measles causes more child deaths than any other vaccine-preventable disease and is also one of the most infectious viruses known.
Dr Dawid Zyla
LJI professor Erica Ollmann Saphire said: “What’s interesting about this study is that we captured snapshots of the fusion process in action.
“The series of images is like a flip book where we see snapshots along the unfolding path of the fusion protein, but then we see the antibody trapping it before it can complete the last stage of the fusion process.
“We believe that other antibodies against other viruses will do the same thing, but they have never been photographed in this way before.”
The research team says their “promising” discovery – published in the journal Science – may be important beyond measles, as it is just one member of the larger paramyxovirus family, which also includes the deadly Nipah virus.
The Nipah virus is less contagious, but has a much higher mortality rate than measles.
Study first author Dawid Zyla, postdoctoral researcher at LJI, said: “What we learned about the fusion process could be clinically relevant for Nipah, parainfluenza virus and Hendra virus.
“These are all viruses with pandemic potential.”
URGENT NEED FOR TREATMENTS FOR MEASLES
Measles is a highly contagious, airborne disease that tends to affect children more.
Despite extensive vaccination efforts, the virus remains a major health threat.
There were 1,603 suspected cases of measles in England and Wales in 2023, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – a sharp increase from 735 cases in 2022 and 360 in 2021.
England has recorded large outbreaks of measles in several regions since autumn 2023.
A recent UKHSA report says 1,985 laboratory-confirmed cases of measles were reported in England between October 2023 and June this year.
Thirty-six percent of these were in London, 33 percent in the West Midlands and 9 percent in the East Midlands.
The majority – about 63 percent – occurred in children aged 10 or younger.
Measles caused around 136,000 deaths worldwide in 2022, with victims mainly being children under five who were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.
Prof Saphire said: “Measles causes more child deaths than any other vaccine-preventable disease, and is also one of the most infectious viruses known.”
Dr Zyla added: “The current vaccine works well but cannot be taken by people who are pregnant or have compromised immune systems.”
There is no specific treatment for measles, so researchers are looking for antibodies to use as an emergency treatment to prevent serious illness.
To better understand how the measles virus fuses with cells, the LJI team turned to an antibody called mAb 77.
The researchers found that mAb 77 targets the measles fusion glycoprotein, the piece of viral machinery that measles uses to enter human cells through a specialized process called fusion.
The main symptoms of measles
Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious problems in some people.
The infection usually begins with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later.
Early signs include:
- A high temperature
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Sneezing
- Cough
- Red, painful and watery eyes
Small white spots may appear inside the cheeks and on the back of the lips.
A rash tends to appear next. It usually starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body.
The spots are sometimes raised and join together to form mottled patches. They don’t normally itch.
The rash appears brown or red on white skin. It may be harder to see on darker skin.
Complications are rare, but measles can cause pneumonia, meningitis, blindness, seizures, and sometimes death.
Source: National Health Service
The LJI team investigated exactly how the antibody fights the virus.
They found that mAb 77 stops the virus midway through the fusion process.
Now that they know how mAb 77 works, the research team hopes the antibody can be used as part of a treatment cocktail to protect people against measles or to treat patients with active measles infection.
In a follow-up experiment, they showed that mAb 77 provided “significant” protection against measles in cotton rats. models of measles virus infection.
Now the team wants to study different antibodies against measles.
Dr. Zyla added, “We would like to stop the fusion at different points in the process and investigate other therapeutic opportunities.”
Vaccination is the best way to protect you and your children from measles.
Children receive the first dose at one year of age and the second at three years and four months, shortly before starting school.
However, anyone who has missed their injections can catch up at any time during their GP surgery.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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