Unmasking the secret of broadly neutralising COVID-19 therapeutic antibodies
Despite the high number of break-through infections from the Omicron variant of the SARS CoV-2 virus, researchers found that antibodies present in previously infected patients can neutralise variants of the COVID-19 disease
2023-03-22
(Press-News.org) The rapid evolution and emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as the Omicron variant, renders it highly capable of evading the host immunity.
At the same time, vaccines based on original wild-type strain of SARS CoV-2 shows reduced protection against newer variants, particularly for the Omicron variant. This results in break-through infections among those vaccinated and highly infectious among non-vaccinated individuals.
Thus, it remains uncertain whether new emerging variants of the COVID-19 disease can escape the protective immune response triggered by vaccines and whether pre-existing antibodies present in patients who have recovered from COVID-19 can neutralise them.
Homing in on this, Associate Professor Justin Chu, Director of the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Core Facility and Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), led a joint study conducted by the BSL-3 Core Facility and Tsinghua University in China, to investigate how broadly neutralising antibodies acquire their ability to neutralise all variants of SARS-CoV-2 tested. The study is published in Nature Immunology.
The researchers aimed to analyse the unique features of broadly neutralising antibodies present in nine individuals who had been infected with the original wild-type strain of the SARS CoV-2 virus. The neutralising antibodies were isolated and studied.
A detailed analysis revealed that these antibodies have unique biochemical and structural features, which are naturally strong binders to the receptor binding domain on the virus surface, facilitating the uptake of the virus into human cells. Therefore, these antibodies are able to block the binding of the virus onto the surface of human cells, preventing infection of the human cells by the virus.
In laboratory studies, the neutralising antibodies demonstrated protective effects. When tested with the Beta variant, the neutralising antibodies provide protection from severe disease outcomes and there were also no detectable levels of the virus in both the lung and brain tissues. Similar protective functions were also demonstrated using the Omicron variant, resulting in no disease symptoms and no loss in weight.
These results highlight that a natural infection with the wild type of SARS-CoV-2 virus could generate broadly neutralising and protective antibodies, which can protect individuals against infection from the Omicron subvariants. In addition to the vaccine booster taken by past infected patients, it is highly likely that these antibodies contribute to hybrid immunity against the variants.
This study provides evidence to support the virus receptor protein in the antibodies as a viable and possible target for new vaccine strategies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
“The next part of our study aims to understand how the memory immune cells that produce these broadly neutralising antibodies will be crucial for developing next generation vaccines, that can selectively enhance the production of such highly effective and broadly neutralising antibodies,” said Assoc Prof Chu, Principal Investigator of the study.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2023-03-22
Up-and-coming local biotech startup BetaLife Pte Ltd (“BetaLife”) is collaborating with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to accelerate the development of next generation cell-based therapy for diabetes. BetaLife, a stem cell therapy company focused on developing regenerative medicine for diabetes, has acquired the rights to human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) technology from A*STAR. This technology enables the generation of iPSCs, which are cells that have similar properties to embryonic ...
2023-03-22
The Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) - also known as Black Vulture, Monk Vulture or Eurasian Black Vulture - is the largest bird of prey in Europe.
Globally classified as Near Threatened, its populations in southern Europe, once abundant, have been experiencing a dramatic decline since the late 1800s. So dramatic, in fact, that by the mid-1900s, these birds had already been nowhere to be seen throughout most of their distributional range across the Old Continent. In Bulgaria, the species has been considered locally extinct since 1985.
Thanks to the re-introduction initiative that was started in 2015 by three Bulgarian non-governmental organisations: ...
2023-03-22
Nine in ten women in England enter pregnancy with at least one indicator that may increase health risks to them and their baby, according to new research.
Common indicators were women not quitting smoking, failing to take folic acid before pregnancy or having a previous pregnancy loss.
Researchers from the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, hosted by University Hospital Southampton and University of Southampton, analysed data from over 650,000 mothers.
They created a first national picture of women’s health before ...
2023-03-21
"Have you ever wondered about life on a leaf?"
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) researcher Ashley Shade asks a simple question, but it’s one well worth investigation. The aboveground part of plants where microbes reside, or the phyllosphere, represents the largest environmental surface area on the plant. Much of this area is grown as cultivated agriculture, and understanding the interactions between plants and the microorganisms that live on their surfaces may help us develop agricultural management practices that can increase crop productivity and resilience. In their newly published study, Department ...
2023-03-21
ITHACA, N.Y. – Moderate levels of artificial light at night – like the fixture illuminating your backyard – bring more caterpillar predators and reduce the chance that these lepidoptera larvae grow up to become moths and serve as food for larger prey.
This ecological impact was demonstrated in a new Cornell University study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
The scientists placed more than 550 lifelike caterpillar replicas made of soft clay in a forest, setting to ascertain how the mockups were attacked and hunted by predators compared to a control group.
“We measured predation ...
2023-03-21
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is proud to announce that Anne Kornahrens, Director of Community, has been selected as a 2023 U.S. delegate to the International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) Assembly.
Kornahrens will attend the 52nd International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) General Assembly and World Chemistry Congress, to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, August 18–25, 2023.
The IUPAC Young Observer Program strives to introduce the work of IUPAC to a new generation of distinguished researchers and to provide them with an opportunity to address international science policy issues. IYCN, an affiliated ...
2023-03-21
SAN ANTONIO (March 21, 2023) — Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) have developed a small-molecule drug that prevents weight gain and adverse liver changes in mice fed a high-sugar, high-fat Western diet throughout life.
“When we give this drug to the mice for a short time, they start losing weight. They all become slim,” said Madesh Muniswamy, PhD, professor of medicine in the health science center’s Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine.
Findings by the collaborators, also from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, were published Feb. 27 in the high-impact journal Cell ...
2023-03-21
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $150 million for research into the crosscutting foundational science for multiple Energy Earthshots. This funding, provided by the Office of Science, will support fundamental research to accelerate breakthroughs in support of the Energy Earthshots Initiative.
“Our Energy Earthshot solutions start with science,” said Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, DOE’s Director of the Office of Science. “The Office of Science is working to find those solutions by supporting research that will target the remaining and emerging scientific challenges underlaying ...
2023-03-21
EAST LANSING, Mich. – While listening to a favorite song is a known mood booster, researchers at Michigan State University have discovered that music-listening interventions also can make medicines more effective.
“Music-listening interventions are like over-the-counter medications,” said Jason Kiernan, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing. “You don’t need a doctor to prescribe them.”
While previous research studies have used music-listening interventions as a tool to treat pain and anxiety, Kiernan took a novel approach by studying the effects of music-listening interventions ...
2023-03-21
URBANA, Ill. – Animal agriculture is a major source of water pollution in the United States, as manure runoff carries excess nutrients into rivers and lakes. Because of their non-point source nature, most farms are not regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. This leaves pollution control up to the states, resulting in a patchwork of different approaches that are difficult to evaluate.
A new study from the University of Illinois focuses on local manure management regulations in Wisconsin and how they affect water ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Unmasking the secret of broadly neutralising COVID-19 therapeutic antibodies
Despite the high number of break-through infections from the Omicron variant of the SARS CoV-2 virus, researchers found that antibodies present in previously infected patients can neutralise variants of the COVID-19 disease
