The majority of products found in antibody catalogues are targeted at proteins that perform a role in normal cellular function, but are also expressed in diseased states. Important areas of research include Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and cancer.
However, viruses and other infectious agents are also included in cancer research – Epstein and Barr identified the first oncovirus (EPV) in 1964, shortly before Baruch Blumberg identified Hepatitis B as a probable cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (although this was not confirmed until Beasley et al performed epidemiologic studies in the 1980s).
The natural role of antibodies is to fight foreign proteins entering the body –i.e. attack from organisms like parasites, bacteria and viruses. In 1998, the World Health Organization estimated that 1 in 4 deaths globally were caused by infectious disease.
More recent WHO reports show that, while overall this figure has fallen, deaths attributable to HIV and AIDS are on the increase. While many bacterial and parasitic diseases can be treated with antibiotics and other drugs, the same is not true with viral diseases.
Viruses present a real threat to world health, as they can only replicate inside the host’s cells, most often the nucleus, causing a range of cytopathic effects, such as cell lysis and apoptosis. It’s important to realise that the proteins which do this, while virus-specific, are not necessarily components of the virus itself.
Most viral infections are localised, and eventually result in death of the host cell. However, some viruses have the opposite effect, causing cells to proliferate. The Epstein-Barr, or human herpes virus, is included in this category, though malignancies are rare. The human papillomavirus (HPV) however, is of major concern, being a leading cause of cervical cancer.
We at Novus Biologicals have over 350 products on our antibody database devoted to virology and infectious disease.
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