Singapore discovers antibodıes that can battle chikungunya

SINGAPORE, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- Singapore says it has discovered two new fully human monoclonal antibodies which could battle Chikungunya, a disease that currently has no available vaccine or specific treatment.        The republic's Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) said the discovery was made by the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), an institute under its wing, and a French bio-pharmaceutical company, Vivalis, in a joint research collaboration.        The groundbreaking discovery had been published in the Journal ofImmunology, A*STAR said in a statement Tuesday.        Chikungunya is prevalent in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia and is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, the same mosquito that spreads dengue fever.        In Singapore alone, over 1,000 Chikungunya cases were reported over the period 2008-2010.            A*STAR said the researchers used Humalex, a Vivalis technology platform designed to identify and generate fully human monoclonal antibodies, to develop two antibodies that could neutralise several Chikungunya strains in vitro by culturing immune cells from an individual who had developed resistance to Chikungunya.        Monoclonal antibodies can be more potent and have fewer side effects than conventional small molecule drugs, the agency added.