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#Antibody #signatures in hospitalized #HFMD #patients with acute #EV-A71 infection https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1011420
journals.plos.orgAntibody signatures in hospitalized hand, foot and mouth disease patients with acute enterovirus A71 infectionAuthor summary Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus infections affects millions of young children annually. Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) is a major causative pathogen of severe HFMD. EV-A71-specific antibody response is induced rapidly after illness onset, but the characteristics of primary antibody response to EV-A71 in young children are not well understood. Previous study demonstrated a dominant IgM producing EV-A71-specific antibody-secreting B cell response in children under 3 years old. However, no EV-A71-specific human IgM mAb has been reported. Here, we identified EV-A71 neutralizing mAbs, including two IgG1 and six IgM mAbs, from plasmablasts of EV-A71 infected children. IgM mAbs neutralize EV-A71 potently although possess few somatic mutations. We found sequence similarities between IgM antibodies from two patients. We selected EV-A71 variants in the presence of neutralizing mAbs and demonstrated that residues critical for neutralization are conserved among EV-A71 genotypes. We further explored epitope specific antibody responses in acute phase sera of EV-A71 infected patients and found that these neutralizing epitopes on the virus are immunogenic. Our findings advance understanding of antibody response in EV-A71 infected HFMD patients and can help inform the development of therapies against EV-A71 infections.