Antibody
Hong Kong – A research team led by scientists of the University of Hong Kong (HKU)
announced Thursday the invention of a universal antibody drug against HIV and AIDS that can “kill two
birds with one stone.”
By engineering a tandem Bi-specific Broadly Neutralising Antibody (bNAb), the team found that this novel
antibody drug is universally effective not only against all genetically divergent global HIV-I
strains tested, but also promoting the elimination of latently infected cells in a humanized mouse model,
the team announced at a news conference.
The single gene-encoded tandem bNAb titled “BiIA-SG” strategically ambushes invading HIV-I particles to
protect CD4 positive T cells by attaching to host protein CD4.
BiIA-SG not only displays a potent activity against all three panels of 124 genetically divergent global
HIV-I strains tested, but also prevents diverse live viral challenges completely in humanized mice.
Moreover, gene transfer of BiIA-SG achieves pro-longed drug availability in vivo, leading to a promising
efficacy of eliminating HIV-I infected cells in humanised mice.
The team said with significantly improved breadth and potency, BiIA-SG will hopefully be the first “made
in Hong Kong” anti-HIV-I antibody drug for clinical development.
The research team was led by scientists at AIDS Institute and Department of Microbiology of HKU’s Li Ka
Shing Faculty of Medicine.
The new findings were published in the April issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation, one of the world’s
leading biomedical journals.(Xinhua/NAN)