Research On M2 Proton Channel As An Antiviral Target For Influenza A And B Viruses

To investigate the broad spectrum antiviral activities in vitro, we have prepared and characterized the monoclonal antibodies against M2 protein channel of influenza A and B viruses. Not only have we applied the hybridoma technique to get the monoclonal antibodies against M2 protein of influenza A and B viruses, but also screened the phage displayed peptide specifically binding to BM2. We characterized the M2e8-7and BM2e-2 recognizing the N terminus eight highly conserved epitomes respectively. The mAb M2e8-7 exhibited high affinity reacted with 19 of the current known 21 influenza A M2e variants. A cytopathic assay showed that the mAb M2e8-7 potently inhibited the replication of variety influenza A virus. Seemly, the monoclonal antibody BM2e-2 potently protected MDCK cells from homologous, but not heterologous, virus infections. Besides, specific peptide sequence VSFTPSF secreting anti-BM2 mAbs were obtained and the mechanism of the inhibition was further discussed. These results indicate that antibody targeting the M2 proton channel is a promising therapeutic candidate for treating influenza virus infections, and that brought new insight in developing vaccine.