Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have isolated human antibodies against a type of bird flu that has killed more than 200 people in China since 2012 and which may pose a worldwide pandemic threat.

The antibodies against H7subtype viruses exhibit “remarkable neutralizing potency,” and thus may represent a new way to protect people who have been exposed to or infected by avian influenza, the group reported in The Journal of Clinical Investigation last month.

The research was led by the paper’s senior author, James Crowe Jr., MD, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center. Crowe and his colleagues have developed a method for rapidly producing large quantities of human monoclonal antibodies against specific viral targets. Monoclonal antibodies are generated by clones of a type of white blood cell that have been fused to myeloma cells to form fast-growing “hybridomas.” Once produced, these antibodies, like heat-seeking missiles, seek out and destroy their targets.

Unlike vaccines, which stimulate the body’s own immune defenses against a viral invader, the antibodies are potential treatments that, when injected, could provide short-term protection to people at risk of exposure. They also could be used as antiviral drugs to treat already infected patients.

Over the past couple of years, the Crowe lab has produced human monoclonal antibodies that can neutralize, or kill, a wide range of potentially lethal viruses, including chikungunya, dengue, Ebola, and its close cousin, Marburg.

Natalie Thornburg, PhD, a staff scientist in the Crowe lab, was the paper’s first author. Other Vanderbilt faculty members who contributed to the study were Kathryn Edwards, MD, and Buddy Creech, MD, MPH.