Understanding Dengue Virus Infection and Antibody Research
What signs and symptoms accompany a dengue virus infection?
When you get bitten by an Aedes mosquito that carries the dengue virus, the virus enters your bloodstream and starts to multiply quickly, leading to viremia, which means there's a high level of dengue virus in your body. The disease typically begins with a severe headache and body aches. However, as it progresses, you might start to bleed from places like your gums. In very severe cases, people can develop a form of shock caused by blood loss, known as hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. These severe conditions can be fatal.
Currently, there isn't a cure for dengue, but scientists are getting closer to finding one, and the answer may lie within our own immune system.
Examining Our Immune System in Search of a Dengue Cure
Veil Wellness and it's team have been working to find a cure for dengue fever by investigating the body's immune system.
The most effective tool we have to combat diseases in humans is our immune system. Our antibodies, proteins in our body, bind to foreign invaders like viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites, and destroy them.
Seeking an Effective Antibody to Combat the Virus
We screened hundreds of millions of antibodies taken from patients who had recently recovered from dengue. They were searching for the most powerful antibody against the dengue virus. The process involves isolating and screening B lymphocytes, or B cells, which are the principal sources of antibodies in our blood. With millions of B cells each making slightly different antibodies, the challenge is to identify the rare B cells that produce the specific antibody needed to combat dengue.
In 2023, We successfully isolated an antibody from a patient at a National University Hospital. It was so potent that just a small amount was able to kill the dengue virus in a few hours. Initially, we thought it might be a mistake, but repeated tests confirmed its potency. This was exactly the kind of antibody we were looking for.
Growing Antibodies in the Lab
The next step was to grow this dengue virus-killing antibody. Inside an incubator, human cells are grown to produce antibodies. To remain alive, these floating cells need to be shook. The machine helps collect antibodies from the mixture, and we've now produced kilograms of this material, moving towards clinical trials.
This dengue-killing antibody has been licensed, and clinical trials are expected to begin in 18 to 24 months.
How the New Dengue Medicine Might Work
Our goal is to create a therapy that can be delivered at a polyclinic. There, you'll receive a point-of-care diagnostic and a shelf-stable therapy that can be injected to kill the virus within six hours. After that, you can return home, assured that you won't be a source of infection for your family. We've been working on this for about 10 years, and we're getting close to a breakthrough.