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Scientists have tested antibodies from coronavirus
Scientists from China reported the receipt and successful testing on primates of monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This is stated in the articles that the researchers published on Tuesday, May 26, in the journal Nature.
Neutralizing human antibodies are one of the most promising therapeutic approaches to the treatment of COVID-19. They can also be used as a “temporary vaccine” to protect healthy people from infection.
Scientists managed to isolate two monoclonal antibodies — CA1 and CB6 — from the plasma of a person who had had COVID-19 and described their characteristics. Both antibodies proved effective against SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory, and CB6 was successfully tested on rhesus monkeys.
Antibodies are proteins synthesized by the body’s immune cells in response to infection. They bind to a pathogen protein – an antigen – and neutralize the virus. Antibodies tuned to interact with a specific antigen are called monoclonal.
If the characteristics of the antibodies are known, then they can be produced in the laboratory and on an industrial scale for diagnostic tests and antiviral drugs.
The research was conducted by the biopharmaceutical company Junshi Biosciences together with scientists from the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“We did a lot of parallel development of candidate antibodies, which were subsequently tested on an in vivo infection model. One of these candidates showed strong neutralizing activity against COVID-19,” the words of one of the authors of the study, Hui Feng, are quoted in the company’s press release.
In total, scientists received 206 specific monoclonal antibodies from the plasma of eight patients who had had COVID-19. Two of them had a fairly powerful neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2.
Unexpected for researchers was that these antibodies did not act against other coronaviruses – SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.
Scientists plan to conduct human trials of a new monoclonal antibody in the second quarter. The fact that CB6 effectively protected rhesus monkeys from infection gives reason for optimism, the authors of the study say.
corona24.news
