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Antibodies are crucial immune proteins that help our bodies fight infections by recognizing and binding to pathogens, providing key clues about their weaknesses. At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, scientists contributed to research that showed how a better understanding of the subtleties of antibody-target interactions can inform vaccine design and therapeutic strategies.

According to study findings, recently published in Nature, researchers identified two antibodies capable of targeting a key protein used by malarial parasites to attach infected red blood cells to blood vessel walls. The research, involving an international team of scientists, revealed that a critical stretch of amino acids in that protein is vulnerable to antibody interference. Learning more about how these antibodies bind to their targets offers valuable insights that could guide the development of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies to prevent or treat diseases like malaria and HIV.

“The idea would be that we can use this structural information about how the antibody binds a specific epitope [target] to then try to computationally design [a vaccine] that would elicit this sort of antibody response,” said Nick Hurlburt, a Fred Hutch structural biologist who contributed to the research with his colleague Marie Pancera.