Impede a fever

A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed an antibody that could treat dengue infections caused by all four serotypes of the virus, and might be able to prevent the disease as well. While most companies are focusing on vaccines for dengue, Visterra Inc. has licensed the mAb and believes that an immunotherapy could produce a better and more lasting way to treat and prevent infection.

Researchers have struggled to generate treatments or vaccines that work broadly in dengue fever because antibodies against one dengue serotype rarely induce long-term protection against the others. On top of that, when patients recover from dengue infection, the antibodies they develop against the first serotype can exacerbate a second infection by enhancing viral uptake into host cells. ...