Antibody-dependent enhancement

Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), sometimes less precisely called immune enhancement or disease enhancement, is a phenomenon in which binding of a virus to suboptimal antibodies enhances its entry into host cells, followed by its replication. The suboptimal antibodies can result from natural infection or from vaccination. ADE may cause enhanced respiratory disease, but is not limited to respiratory disease. It has been observed in HIV, RSV virus and Dengue virus and is monitored for in vaccine development. In ADE, antiviral antibodies promote viral infection of target immune cells by exploiting the phagocytic FcγR or complement pathway. After interaction with a virus, the antibodies bind Fc receptors (FcR) expressed on certain immune cells or complement proteins. FcγRs bind antibodies via their fragment crystallizable region (Fc). The process of phagocytosis is accompanied by virus degradation, but if the virus is not neutralized (either due to low affinity binding or targeting to a non-neutralizing epitope), antibody binding may result in virus escape and, therefore, more severe infection. Thus, phagocytosis can cause viral replication and the subsequent death of immune cells. Essentially, the virus “deceives” the process of phagocytosis of immune cells and uses the host's antibodies as a Trojan horse. ADE may occur because of the non-neutralizing characteristic of an antibody, which binds viral epitopes other than those involved in host-cell attachment and entry. It may also happen when antibodies are present at sub-neutralizing concentrations (yielding occupancies on viral epitopes below the threshold for neutralization), or when the strength of antibody-antigen interaction is below a certain threshold. This phenomenon can lead to increased viral infectivity and virulence. ADE can occur during the development of a primary or secondary viral infection, as well as with a virus challenge after vaccination.