Rabies: new prophylactic and therapeutic avenues

Rabies is still responsible for approximately 60,000 human deaths per year mostly in Asia and Africa and affects especially underserved people. Yet, since the first vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur more than 130 years ago, prophylactic measures have significantly improved. They are now composed of the vaccine allied to purified human or equine rabies immunoglobulins. However, these immunoglobulins are expensive and not easy to reach in developing settings. Researchers from the Structural Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the Virus and Immunity Unit and the Lyssavirus Epidemiology and Neuropathology Unit, have visualized one of the most potent and most broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibody in interaction with the rabies glycoprotein. This finding makes it possible to propose new avenues, both prophylactic and therapeutic, in the fight against rabies.

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