Research theme

• Elucidation of virus escape mechanisms from broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting conserved regions
• Clarification of mechanisms of action of mucosal induced IgA antibodies by vaccines and infections.

Keywords

• Virus
• Vaccine
• Recombinant Proteins
• Antibodies

Overview of Research

• Broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting conserved regions have been discovered in many viruses that undergo antigenic drift, and are being actively studied for therapeutic applications and as targets for vaccine induction. However, there are many unknowns about the phenomena that occur in the presence of selection pressure by antibodies, such as the possibility of antigenic drift in conserved regions. This research aims to isolate escape mutants using broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza viruses, conduct characterization of the viruses, and apply the obtained knowledge to the research and development of universal influenza vaccines.
• IgA antibodies, the most abundantly produced antibodies in vivo, are frontline defense factors in the body against infections that target mucosal tissues. In addition to monomeric and dimeric IgA antibodies secreted on mucosal epithelial cells, there are also tetrameric IgA antibodies with large molecular weights. Tetrameric IgA antibodies have been reported to exhibit higher neutralizing activity than monomeric or dimeric IgA antibodies, and mucosal vaccines that can efficiently induce tetrameric IgA antibodies are expected to show high vaccine efficacy. Previous studies on tetrameric IgA antibodies have focused on influenza viruses, and there are many unknowns regarding other mucosal infectious disease viruses. This research aims to elucidate the mechanism of action of tetrameric IgA antibodies against rotaviruses, which induce intestinal infections.