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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Antiviral activity of mRNAS encoding intracellular scFv antibodies against conserved influenza virus epitopes
Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, St. Petersburg, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Sergey A. Klotchenko
Professora Popova, 15/17, Saint Petersburg, 197022, Russia; ur.liam@kitafsof
Funding: This study was supported by financially by the Russian Science Foundation, Agreement No. 24-25-00488: "Study of the antiviral potential of intracellular scFv antibodies against influenza virus" (supervisor — S.A. Klotchenko), https://rscf.ru/project/24-25-00488/
Author contribution: Plotnikova MA — design of structures, conducting experiments, registration and analysis of results, statistical processing, manuscript authoring and formatting; Oleynik VA — conducting experiments, registration of results; Klotchenko SA — study design, preparation and characterization of mRNA preparations, conducting experiments, registration and analysis of results, manuscript editing.
Monoclonal antibody therapy is one of the most promising approaches for effective influenza control. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral activity of exogenous mRNA-encoded single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies, which are capable of binding viral antigens inside the cell with high affinity. Two influenza virus proteins, hemagglutinin (antibody FI6) and nucleoprotein (antibody 2/3), were chosen as targets. Each scFv encoded by mRNA was produced in two variants: one containing a signal peptide (SP) to direct secretion into the extracellular space (scFv-SP) and one lacking the signal peptide (scFv-WO) for cytosolic localization and function. These variants showed distinct intracellular localization patterns: scFv-SP localized to regions characteristic of the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex, whereas scFv-WO was distributed diffusely throughout the cytoplasm. mRNAs encoding scFv-FI6-SP, scFv-2/3-SP, and scFv-2/3-WO exhibited antiviral activity against influenza A virus in vitro. The scFv-FI6-SP mRNA showed the strongest antiviral effect, reducing viral load by approximately tenfold compared to the control. For influenza B virus, both scFv-2/3 mRNA variants, with and without the signal peptide, reduced viral load by an average of 50%. These findings highlight the antiviral potential of intracellular antibodies and point to new opportunities for targeting viral components that are not accessible to conventional antiviral therapies.
Keywords: influenza virus, virus neutralization, antiviral agents, broadly neutralizing antibodies, passive immunotherapy, mRNA therapeutics, mRNA-encoded antibodies, intrabodies, scFv fragments