C
Chris Smith
Guest
- Most people infected with the coronavirus end up developing an immune response, including neutralizing antibodies that can kill the virus.
- A small percentage of COVID-19 patients end up developing so-called "super antibodies" that are incredibly efficient at blocking the virus.
- A new report details the case of a patient who unknowingly had COVID-19 early in the pandemic. His super antibodies remained strong nine months after infection and neutralized at least six different coronavirus strains.
- Super antibodies might be used to develop a new generation of COVID-19 drugs, and to gauge the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
The immune system is so sophisticated that it can recognize foreign elements that enter the body and mount a defense. With infectious pathogens like the novel coronavirus, the immune system develops antibodies that can neutralize the spike protein the virus would otherwise use to infect cells. COVID-19-specific B and T white blood cells are also created in the process, which will intervene in the future if reinfection occurs. Drugs like monoclonal antibodies and vaccines, as well as therapies involving plasma transfusions from COVID-19 survivors, have the same purpose — to neutralize the spike protein with antibodies. Monoclonal drugs and plasma lend patients antibodies that can work immediately against the virus in patients who were just infected. Vaccines won’t benefit infected people, but they have a huge advantage over antibody drugs. Vaccines teach the immune system to create antibodies that will be useful down the road at preventing severe COVID-19. Moreover, the immune system will also make white blood cells ready to fuel an immediate response upon exposure to the real virus.
As expected, not all patients develop the same immune response to the virus, which explains why some people get milder COVID-19 cases while others experience severe complications. But it turns out that a small number of people can produce so-called "super antibodies" that are incredibly effective at neutralizing SARS-CoV-2. What’s even more interesting is that they keep their powers even when diluted 10,000 times, and they can survive in the blood for many months after infection. This breakthrough discovery could lead to even better antibody-based therapies.
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‘Super antibodies’ might be the biggest breakthrough of the coronavirus pandemic originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 18 Jan 2021 at 13:14:41 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Via BRG - Boy Genius Report