治療伊波拉病毒實驗藥物ZMapp的解說

治療伊波拉病毒實驗藥物ZMapp的解說

ZMapp: The Experimental Ebola Treatment Explained

如何利用煙草幫助打敗了世界上最致命的伊波拉病毒。

How tobacco may help defeat one of the world’s deadliest viruses.

ZMapp本身是由單株抗體組成的蛋白質，無害結合伊波拉病毒。ZMapp itself is made up of proteins called monoclonal antibodies, which bind to the Ebola virus rendering it harmless. 該藥物是藉由伊波拉病毒感染老鼠產生的單株抗體，然後再將老鼠的單株抗體修改成類似人類的單株抗體。The drug is made by infecting mice with a protein from the Ebola virus, and then modifying the mice’s antibodies to more closely resemble human ones.

首先將伊波拉病毒抗原注入老鼠體內，待免疫反應後，再採收老鼠的脾，並利用腫瘤細胞系產生的雜交腫瘤細胞融合成熟的B細胞大量複製單株抗體（mAb）。 Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were first created in mice by injecting them with antigens from Ebola, harvesting their spleens, and fusing mature B-cells producing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), with cancer cell lines to create hybridomas.篩選最佳的單株抗體後，再萃取老鼠單株抗體的基因編碼，再將人類特定蛋白質基因編碼部分（特定核苷酸序列）轉植取代老鼠抗體的某些特定基因編碼部分（特定核苷酸序列），這跨物種的基因轉植過程稱為人源化抗體（將老鼠的單株抗體轉換為人類單株抗體）。After the best antibody is selected, the gene encoding the antibody was extracted, and certain portions were replaced with portions encoding human proteins, in the process called humanization. 要建立一個人源化單株抗體商業化大規模生產系統，Mapp使用一種叫做“快速抗體製造平台”（RAMP）的製造流程，採用magnICON（ICON基因公司）的病毒載體。To create a system to produce the humanized mAbs at commercial scale, Mapp used a process called "Rapid Antibody Manufacturing Platform" (RAMP), using magnICON (ICON Genetics) viral vectors. 利用大量培養帶有人源化單株抗體基因編碼病毒載體的土壤桿菌屬，並大量感染煙草植物，在煙草植物大量表現製造所需的人源化單株抗體(重組疫苗)的新平台的過程稱為（magnifection）。In a process called "magnifection," tobacco plants are infected with the viruses, using Agrobacterium cultures. [眾所周知的是：土壤桿菌屬本身和植物之間具有傳遞DNA的能力，也因為這個原因，土壤桿菌屬已成為改良植物基因工程的一個重要基因轉植工具。（土壤桿菌常通過水平基因轉移導致植物根瘤的產生，該屬以向植物導入DNA的能力而聞名，因此土壤桿菌屬也是用於改良植物的重要工具。）] [Agrobacterium is well known for its ability to transfer DNA between itself and plants, and for this reason it has become an important tool for genetic engineering.] 隨後，從生產週期的煙草植物大量萃取和純化所需的人源化單株抗體。一旦人源化單株抗體的編碼基因在手，整個煙草生產週期需要數個月。Subsequently, antibodies are extracted and purified from the plants. Once the genes encoding the humanized mAbs are in hand, the entire tobacco production cycle is believed to take a few months.

資料來源:

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/zmapp-experimental-ebola-treatment-explained