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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Zika Virus Specific Diagnostic Epitope Discovery
Published on: December 12, 2017
A High-Affinity and Potently Neutralized Nanobody against Zika Virus
Huan Hu1, Qiang Deng2, Cheng Guo3
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 518057, China.
Abstract:
ZIKA virus (ZIKV), an emerging pathogen for which no licensed drugs or vaccines exist, has attracted global attention. ZIKV envelope protein domainIII (EDIII) can induce neutralizing antibodies with minor cross-reactive epitopes among flaviviruses. Currently, no nanobodies against the ZIKV EDIII protein are available. In our study, 15 nanobodies were derived from a naive phage library. High-affinity and specific nanobodies of Nb-C9, Nb-D8, Nb-E3, and Nb-E5 were selected in vitro showing dissociation constants of 8.24, 6.59, 2.52, and 8.22 nM, respectively. The Nb-E3 and Nb-E5 potently neutralized strain ZIKV-GD01 with plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT)50 values of 0.1875 and 0.0234 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, a linear epitope Z17-VGEKKITHHWHRS recognized by Nb-E5 showed potential as a candidate for the development of epitope-based vaccines. These findings may contribute to the development of a new therapeutic strategy against ZIKV infection.
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