- Biering, Scott B;
- Akey, David L;
- Wong, Marcus P;
- Brown, W Clay;
- Lo, Nicholas TN;
- Puerta-Guardo, Henry;
- Tramontini Gomes de Sousa, Francielle;
- Wang, Chunling;
- Konwerski, Jamie R;
- Espinosa, Diego A;
- Bockhaus, Nicholas J;
- Glasner, Dustin R;
- Li, Jeffrey;
- Blanc, Sophie F;
- Juan, Evan Y;
- Elledge, Stephen J;
- Mina, Michael J;
- Beatty, P Robert;
- Smith, Janet L;
- Harris, Eva
Medically important flaviviruses cause diverse disease pathologies and collectively are responsible for a major global disease burden. A contributing factor to pathogenesis is secreted flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1). Despite demonstrated protection by NS1-specific antibodies against lethal flavivirus challenge, the structural and mechanistic basis remains unknown. Here, we present three crystal structures of full-length dengue virus NS1 complexed with a flavivirus-cross-reactive, NS1-specific monoclonal antibody, 2B7, at resolutions between 2.89 and 3.96 angstroms. These structures reveal a protective mechanism by which two domains of NS1 are antagonized simultaneously. The NS1 wing domain mediates cell binding, whereas the β-ladder triggers downstream events, both of which are required for dengue, Zika, and West Nile virus NS1-mediated endothelial dysfunction. These observations provide a mechanistic explanation for 2B7 protection against NS1-induced pathology and demonstrate the potential of one antibody to treat infections by multiple flaviviruses.