Antibody that protects against many COVID-19 variants

While the world is suffering under the fangs of COVID-19, researchers are trying to find different ways to protect against it.

A team of researchers from Washington University identified an antibody that can protect against many variants of COVID-19.

They identified that this antibody is highly protective at low doses against numerous Covid-19 variants.

Michael S. Diamond, one of the researchers, said that current antibodies can protect against only a few variants of COVID-19. However, the antibody they identified is effective enough to protect against many different variants of COVID-19. Its mechanism of working is also different.

He added that as the virus may continue to evolve in future, effective and paired antibodies are essential to prevent its resistance. In other words, there is a need of neutralising antibodies that work effectively and can protect against numerous variants.

To find these antibodies, the researchers started the process by immunising mice using a key part of the spike protein of the coronavirus. The spike protein plays a vital role in the receptor recognition and binding process.

The researchers extracted antibody-producing cells from which they obtained 43 antibodies to recognize the receptor-binding domain.

They screened all these antibodies and evaluated their efficiency in preventing the original variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in 2019.

Then they selected the two most effective antibodies that could protect mice from disease and against a panel of viral variants, including alpha, beta, gamma and delta. The panel includes many other unnamed variants also.

Between the two, one antibody, SARS2-38, neutralized all the variants of COVID-19. Thus, the researchers found an antibody that can effectively protect against multiple variants of COVID-19.

The study was published in the journal, Immunity. It paves way for developing new and effective antibody-based therapies that do not lose their potency as the coronavirus mutates over time.

Image by Shafin Al Asad Protic from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/vectors/corona-covid-19-vaccine-virus-5974596/