New antibody to fight flu pandemics and pneumonia

Scientists have developed an antibody which they say boosts the survival chances for patients suffering from influenza and pneumonia.
The antibody, developed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, has proven effective in lab tests and is now being made suitable for use in humans.
The scientists are also using the new antibody to develop a diagnostic kit which can help doctors accurately track the recovery progress of flu and pneumonia patients.
"While it will take up to eight years to develop the antibody into a useable treatment for human patients, we are currently developing a diagnostic kit which should be commercialised in about three years," said Associate Professor Andrew Tan at NTU.

"The kit will help doctors diagnose the severity of pneumonia and the efficacy of the prescribed treatment. This is done by detecting the concentration of a particular protein called ANGPTL4, which is present in samples taken from patients suffering from upper respiratory tract infections," Tan said.
The new antibody, described in the journal Cell Reports, works by blocking ANGPTL4 which was found to be in high concentration in the tissue samples taken from patients suffering from pneumonia.

"When the antibody we developed was given to mice suffering from pneumonia and influenza which had high levels of ANGPTL4, these mice recovered much faster than the other mice which didn't receive the antibodies," Tan said.

"We know that ANGPTL4 usually helps to regulate blood vessel leakiness.
"But this is the first time we have shown that by blocking this protein, we are able to control the natural response of inflammation, which in turn reduces the damage that inflammation does to the lungs.
"The concentration of ANGPTL4 correlates to the amount of inflammation the patient is having," Tan said.
"With our diagnostic kit, doctors will be able to see if a particular treatment is working for a patient. This is done by observing whether the concentration of ANGPTL4 is decreasing or not," he said.
Two biotech multi-national corporations, Abcam based in the UK and Adipogen International based in the US, have won the rights to license the antibody.