How NS1 Antibodies Prevent Severe Flavivirus Disease

The flavivirus genus consists of several major human pathogens including dengue (DENV) and Zika viruses. The flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) plays an important role in disease progression, for example, in the development of severe dengue disease. Anti-NS1 antibodies have been shown to confer protection, and two new studies by Biering et al. and Modhiran et al. on the structure of NS1:antibody complexes reveal their mechanism of neutralization.