Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus complex-specific monoclonal antibody provides broad protection, in murine models, against airborne challenge with viruses from serogroups I, II and III

The alphavirus Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is highly infectious by the airborne route. It is a hazard to laboratory workers, has been developed as a biological weapon and is a potential bioterrorist agent. A suitable vaccine appears in an advanced stage of development but there remains a need for antiviral drugs, effective in prophylaxis of disease prior to or a short time after exposure to airborne virus. Using a murine model to study monoclonal antibody (MAB) a VEEV complex-specific, glycoprotein E2-binding MAB was identified, able to protect against disease induced by exposure to aerosolised VEEV from serogroups I, II and IIIA (mouse-virulent strains). There was no synergy in protection between anti-E1 and anti-E2 MAB. Assays of MAB virus neutralising activity in a homologous (mouse fibroblast) cell line suggested that neutralisation played a significant role in protection in addition to the previously reported mechanism of Fc receptor-binding [Mathews et al., 1985. J. Virol. 55, 594–600]. Development of an analogous human MAB with identical VEEV epitope specificity may be informed and monitored by reference to these properties.