Annick Heykers

Ms. Annick Heykers


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
26 September 2023 in Antibodies
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
LJLotte Jacobs
Lotte Jacobs
KSKim Stobbelaar
Kim Stobbelaar
AHAnnick Heykers
Annick Heykers
PCPaul Cos
Paul Cos
PDPeter Delputte
Peter Delputte
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a significant cause of lower respiratory tract infections in the young, the elderly, and in immunodeficient patients. As such, the virus represents an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Development of monoclonal antibodies against RSV has resulted in a commercial prophylaxis, palivizumab (Synagis®), and different antibodies that have improved our understanding of the structure of the viral proteins. In this study, a different immunization technique, subtractive immunization, was evaluated for its applicability to develop RSV-specific antibodies. One hybridoma which produced antibodies with the strongest staining of RSV infected cells, ATAC-0025, was selected for further characterization. This antibody belongs to the IgG1 class, has neutralizing capacity and recognizes the envelope F-protein. The antibody has a broad reactivity against a range of RSV reference strains and clinical isolates.