Singapore : Raising hope for the development of effective dengue treatment, researchers have identified a super-potent antibody which requires a minute amount to neutralise the virus, reports IANS.
Only nine-10 g of antibody 5J7 is needed to stop the infection of dengue serotype 3 virus (DENV-3), the findings showed.
“We are optimistic that we will make a treatment breakthrough within these few years but antibodies against all the other serotypes have to be identified first,” said senior author Shee Mei Lok from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.
Over the last 50 years, the incidence of dengue virus has increased by 30 times worldwide. However, till now, there is no licensed dengue vaccine or therapeutic agent due to the presence of four circulating virus serotypes (DENV1-4) complicating their development, the study noted.
