Specific and versatile monoclonal antibodies for hantavirus research

Abstract

Rodent-borne hantaviruses pose a continual public health threat to humans through zoonotic transmission, with case fatality rates of up to 50% in some cases. Human infections can lead to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) or hantavirus cardio-pulmonary syndrome (HCPS), depending on the viral species. Despite the morbidity and mortality associated with this family of viruses, no anti-viral therapeutics or vaccines are available to treat and prevent hantavirus disease. The relative shortage of commercially available reagents to study hantavirus infections in vitro and in vivo likely contributes to the challenges in developing viral countermeasures. This report describes the generation of a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies that collectively recognize the four viral proteins of Seoul virus (Orthohantavirus seoulense), an Old World hantavirus with worldwide distribution and the causative agent of HFRS. We have validated the specificity and versatility of these antibodies against a subset of Old World and New World hantaviruses in assays relying on antigen recognition in denatured or native conformations. We present several antibodies that specifically recognize the Seoul virus nucleoprotein and polymerase protein in Western blotting and immunostaining assays. We also identified three novel antibodies directed against the glycoprotein complex that are capable of binding to the N-terminal glycoprotein of all hantaviruses tested. These antibodies are freely available to all hantavirus researchers to add to the small, but growing, collection of reliable and available reagents to be used to study hantavirus biology, identify novel antiviral compounds, and measure viral prevalence in the laboratory and the field. ImportancePathogenic hantaviruses cause severe hemorrhagic disease and pose a significant public health threat world-wide. Insufficient research into the biology of these viruses has slowed the development of effective direct-acting antivirals and vaccines. Here, we describe the generation and validation of novel, specific monoclonal antibodies for the detection of Seoul virus proteins in vitro. These reagents can be used to fill in critical gaps in knowledge regarding hantavirus entry, protein expression, and particle generation.