Killing antibodies in the fight against COVID-19

Killing antibodies in the fight against COVID-19

Overview

  • Post By : Kumar Jeetendra

  • Source: German Center for Infection Research

  • Date: 09 Jul,2020

An important line of defence in the fight against the new Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 may be that the formation of neutralising antibodies. These can eliminate the intruders and possess great potential for use for prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 illness.

A group of investigators headed by Prof. Florian Klein (Cologne University Hospital) and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) has further elucidated these antibodies develop and it has isolated potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. As well as Boehringer Ingelheim, the investigators are now characterizing and growing these Compounds farther. It’s expected that they will enter the stage of clinical development later this year. The results were published today (July 07, 2020) in the journal Mobile .

“Our goal was to better understand the immune reaction to SARS-CoV-2 and to spot highly potent carcinogens which could be employed to prevent and treat COVID-19,” explained Prof. Klein, Director of the Institute of Medicine Virology at the Cologne University Hospital and Principal Investigator at the DZIF. “We assume that such antibodies are effective for several weeks and could protect against COVID-19 during this period of time,” added Dr. Christoph Kreer, that ran the job together with Dr. Matthias Zehner at Cologne.

In close cooperation with scientists in Marburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Tübingen and also Israel, the researchers investigated the SARS-CoV-2 antibody answer in a dozen individuals regained from COVID-19. They analyzed more than 4000 SARS-CoV-2-specific b-cells onto a single cell grade and were able to partially decode the humoral immune reaction to SARS-CoV-2. They rebuilt 255 antibodies in the laboratory, that have been analyzed by Prof. Stephan Becker’s laboratory in Marburg due to his or her capacity to neutralise the publication coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Altogether, 28 neutralising antibodies were found.

“Lately, many antibodies showed only a few mutations. This means that only modest changes were crucial to recognise and neutralise herpes” says Dr. Zehner. In fact, in blood samples collected before the pandemic, the scientists also found B cells taking identical antibody faculties to those with SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies. This may indicate that SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could be readily formed and that an energetic embryo might provide rapid protection.

The antibodies are developed for protecting against and treating COVID-19. Additionally, these antibodies could be used for’post-exposure prophylaxis. Here antibodies would be implemented after contact with an infected individual. “This form of intervention might possibly be of interest for discontinuing localised outbreaks as well as for preventing disease development in people in danger,” explained Prof. Klein. The scientists hope that clinical trials will be performed towards the end of 2020.

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Materials provided by German Center for Infection Research. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. Christoph Kreer, Matthias Zehner, Timm Weber, Meryem S. Ercanoglu, Lutz Gieselmann, Cornelius Rohde, Sandro Halwe, Michael Korenkov, Philipp Schommers, Kanika Vanshylla, Veronica Di Cristanziano, Hanna Janicki, Reinhild Brinker, Artem Ashurov, Verena Krähling, Alexandra Kupke, Hadas Cohen-Dvashi, Manuel Koch, Jan Mathis Eckert, Simone Lederer, Nico Pfeifer, Timo Wolf, Maria J.G.T. Vehreschild, Clemens Wendtner, Ron Diskin, Henning Gruell, Stephan Becker, Florian Klein. Longitudinal isolation of potent near-germline SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patientsCell, July 7, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.044

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