Towards the prophylactic and therapeutic use of human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

In 2012 September, Saudi Arabian businessman died from acute respiratory failure, which was caused by Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (1). The MERS-CoV is the first lineage C of the genus Betacoronavirus that is known to infect humans (2). As of December 2nd, 2014, a total of 927 cases of human MERS-CoV infection with 338 deaths have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) (3). Due to high fatality rate of 35% and clusters of human-to-human transmission, MERS-CoV is of global concern for a potential of pandemic. Contrary to spreading of human MERS-CoV infection worldwide, its specific treatment or vaccine is currently unavailable although interferon-α2b and ribavirin has been reported to improve outcome in MERS-CoV-infected rhesus macaques (4). Thus, agent development for MERS-CoV infection is an urgent issue for the world researcher.