Coertse, JessicaViljoen, NatalieWeyer, JacquelineMarkotter, Wanda2023-12-062023-12-062023-07-18Coertse, J.; Viljoen, N.; Weyer, J.; Markotter,W. Comparative Neutralization Activity of Commercial Rabies Immunoglobulin against Diverse Lyssaviruses. Vaccines 2023, 11, 1255. https://DOI.org/10.3390/vaccines11071255.2076-393X (online)10.3390/vaccines11071255http://hdl.handle.net/2263/93752SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : SUPPLEMENTARY FILE S1: Complete glycoprotein coding sequences for lyssaviruses used in this study; TABLE S1: Number of amino acid substitutions of the glycoprotein ectodomain between lyssaviruses; TABLE S2: Antigenic distances between lyssaviruses and RIG; TABLE S3: Number of nucleotide substitutions of the glycoprotein ectodomain between lyssaviruses; TABLE S4: Number of amino acid substitutions of known antigenic sites of lyssaviruses.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data presented in this study are contained in this article or Supplementary Materials.Novel lyssaviruses, the causative agents of rabies, continue to be described mostly due to increased surveillance in bat hosts. Biologicals for the prevention of rabies in humans have, however, remained largely unchanged for decades. This study aimed to determine if commercial rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) could neutralize diverse lyssaviruses. Two commercial preparations, of human or equine origin, were evaluated against a panel consisting of 13 lyssavirus species. Reduced neutralization was observed for the majority of lyssaviruses compared to rabies virus and was more evident for lyssaviruses outside of phylogroup I. Neutralization of more diverse lyssaviruses only occurred at very high doses, except for Ikoma lyssavirus, which could not be neutralized by the RIG evaluated in this study. The use of RIG is a crucial component of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis and the data generated here indicate that RIG, in its current form, will not protect against all lyssaviruses. In addition, higher doses of RIG may be required for neutralization as the genetic distance from vaccine strains increases. Given the limitations of current RIG preparations, alternative passive immunization options should be investigated.en© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.LyssavirusPost-exposure prophylaxisPassive immunizationRabiesRabies immunoglobulin (RIG)SDG-03: Good health and well-beingArticle