Designing an extracorporeal plasma filtration column with specific binding to dengue virions

Abstract

Dengue infection is one of the major public health concerns and no specific treatment is currently available. An extracorporeal system is one of the alternative treatment in severe dengue patients with impending shock. However, the commercial immunoadsorption devices were size-exclusive, non-selective designed for multipurpose thus not specific for dengue syndrome. This study focuses on establishing the flavivirus-specific (4G2) antibody entrapped into the alginate bead. Results showed that the viral titer reduced more than 90 % after 3 h running on a simulated circuit quantified by reverse transcription qPCR and plaque titration assay. The experiments were repeated with two biological replicates and results were consistent. Moreover, the column showed no specific adsorption to other pathogens inducing systemic infection such as Escherichia coli and Enterovirus A71. This work is the proof-of-concept of a specific viral adsorption using a monoclonal antibody against the viral particle. The system could be improved and optimized to broaden the clinical application to other systemic diseases by replacing the specific antibody or antibodies cocktail.