Dynamics of Antibody Binding and Neutralization during Viral Infection

by Zhenying Chen, Hasan Ahmed, Cora Hirst, and Rustom Antia

During a viral infection, virions are continuously produced by infected cells and rapidly decay. Meanwhile, neutralizing antibodies are produced and bind to virion sites, preventing them from infecting target cells. In this context, virus growth rate and decay rate have an impact on the amount of antibody binding, potentially substantially reducing the impact of Koff on antibody binding. We then show that greatly simplified neutralization models have similar virus growth dynamics to more complex model, but they are less suited for exploring how antibody affinity and the proportion of bound sites on a virion reduce virus growth rate. Thus, the choice of models should depend on the specific research question of interest. 

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