Antibodies targeting the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus nucleoprotein protect via TRIM21

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) is a negative-sense RNA virus spread by Hyalomma genus ticks across Europe, Asia, and Africa. CCHF disease begins as a non-specific febrile illness which may progress into a severe hemorrhagic disease with no widely approved or highly efficacious interventions currently available. Recently, we reported a self-replicating, alphavirus-based RNA vaccine that expresses the CCHFV nucleoprotein and is protective against lethal CCHFV disease. Here, we show that this vaccine generates neutralizing anti-N antibodies and we show here that protection does not require Fc-gamma receptors or complement. Instead, vaccinated mice can directly enhance the activity of the E3 ligase TRIM21 via targeting the infection despite mounting robust CCHFV-specific immunity. We also show that passive transfer of NP-immune antibodies using engineered TRIM21-dependent protection against lethal CCHFV challenge. Together our data identifies TRIM21-mediated mechanisms as the effective function of protective antibodies against the CCHFV NP and provides mechanistic insight into how vaccines against the CCHFV NP confer protection.

Shanna S Leventhal, Thomas Bisom, Dean Clúft, Deepashri Rao, Kimberly Meade-White, Carl Chaia, Justin Murray, Evan A Mihalakos, Troy Hinkley, Steven J Reynolds, Sonja M Best, Jesse H Erasmus, Leo C James, Heinz Feldmann, David W Hawman