Therapeutic Antibodies for the Treatment of Respiratory Tract Infections
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 405
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) represent the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality accounting for several million deaths worldwide. The attrition of existing therapeutic options due to the emergence of multi-resistant or novel pathogens, exemplified by the actual SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, has drained out the conventional anti-pathogen armamentarium aggravating the management of RTI. This has led the World Health Organization to urge hospital infection-control experts and researchers to focus their efforts on developing alternative therapeutics. In this context, the use of therapeutic antibodies (Abs) has demonstrated multiple advantages, including a low risk of unpredicted toxicity and a unique pharmacological profile. In addition, they may offer prophylactic or therapeutic windows for RTIs where vaccines or drugs are neither available nor efficacious. Indeed, three Abs have been approved for the treatment of RTI, including pulmonary anthrax (obiltoxaximab and raxibacumab) and the prevention of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, palivizumab). However, despite evident advantages and some clinical success, anti-infectious Abs are slow to materialize in clinics. Several obstacles hinder their widespread use in the therapeutic management of RTI, such as an inappropriate route of administration, hard-to-overcome biological barriers, high manufacture cost, antigenic variations and unwanted immunogenicity.
Our Special Issue, in which we would like you to share your knowledge via an original research paper or review, will address the following issues:
- Route of administration—local vs. systemic Ab delivery;
- Biological barriers that must be circumvented to improve Ab efficacy—mucus/biofilm/epithelium/endothelium/immunogenicity;
- Antigen selection—new pathogen targets associated with cross-protective potency;
- Antibody format—Ab fragments (variable domain of heavy-chain-only antibody (VHH), Fab’), bispecific Ab, antibody–drug conjugate (ADC), antibody–antibiotic conjugate (AAC), Ab mimetics (anticalin®, nanofitin®).
We will also consider for publication reports about the following topic:
Research on the preclinical development of novel Abs against respiratory infection mediated by virus (influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2, RSV) is also welcome, i.e., bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsellia pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Streptococcus pneumonia); fungus (Aspergillus spp.)
We are looking forward to your manuscript.
Dr. Thomas Sécher
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- therapeutic antibody
- respiratory virus
- respiratory bacteria
- inhalation
- pneumonia
- antibody format
- antibioresistance
