Morgan D McSweeney, Sarhad Alnajjar, Alison M Schaefer, Zach Richardson, Whitney Wolf, Ian Stewart, Pun Sriboonyapirat, Justin McCallen, Ellen Farmer, Bernadette Nzati, Sam Lord, Brian Farrer, Thomas R Moench, Priya A Kumar, Harendra Arora, Raymond J Pickles, Anthony J Hickey, Mark Ackermann, Samuel K Lai
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes substantial morbidity and mortality in infants, the immunocompromised, and the elderly. RSV infects the airway epithelium via the apical membrane and almost exclusively sheds progeny virions back into the airway mucus (AM), making RSV difficult to target by systemically administered therapies. An inhalable "muco-trapping" variant of motavizumab (Mota-MT), a potent neutralizing mAb against RSV F is engineered. Mota-MT traps RSV in AM via polyvalent Fc-mucin bonds, reducing the fraction of fast-moving RSV particles in both fresh pediatric and adult AM by ≈20-30-fold in a Fc-glycan dependent manner, and facilitates clearance from the airways of mice within minutes...
January 15, 2024: Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)