Experts warn that ignorance towards covid-19 and thousands of deaths a day is a mistake. It is evident that a long-term solution is needed to neutralize the virus’s variants. Otherwise, risks will continue to prevail. Moreover, based on laboratory tests, researchers at Harvard have found a single antibody that neutralizes all the know variants of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
The antibody can be used alongside existing vaccine strategies to put an end to this never-ending cycle. Additionally, it may also result in transferring well to humans. Furthermore, these findings were published in Science Immunology.
Frederick Alt, senior investigator of the study said,
We hope this antibody will prove to be as effective in patients as it has been in preclinical evaluations thus far,
If it does, it might provide a new therapeutic and also contribute to new vaccine strategies.
HIV Research Models
For creating a broad-spectrum antibody across the multiple variants, researchers changed mice models. These mice models were previously being used for HIV research and are made using our own immune system. They identify foreign pathogens and go through the same trial-and-error motions, creating antibodies that neutralize them. In conclusion, the mice are mini machines that efficiently provide antibodies that can be used as therapeutics.
Strong Neutralization
The mice models created nine different antibody types when exposed to the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. They could bind to the virus, although they did not wholly neutralize it. Furthermore, more tests identified that three could strongly neutralize the original strain. However, one of them called SP1-77 was impeccable. It neutralized alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and the omicron variant.
How did it work?
SP1-77 does not act on the same regions as other antibodies. It opts for a part that hasn’t been mutated in any SARS-CoV-2.
Professor Tomas Kirchhausen said,
SP1-77 binds the spike protein at a site that so far has not been mutated in any variant, and it neutralizes these variants by a novel mechanism
He further added,
These properties may contribute to its broad and potent activity.
