Boston, August 25
Scientists have identified a human antibody that they say may potentially prevent or limit SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes Covid-19 disease.
The researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in the US discovered and characterised a cross-reactive human monoclonal antibody (MAB) to SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins which blocks ACE2 receptor binding on the mucosal tissue of the respiratory tract.
The origins of this rapid and important discovery go back 16 years, when the researchers at UMMS developed an IgG monoclonal antibody that was effective against a similar virus, SARS, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
When SARS-CoV-2 was recognised and began to spread, the researchers realised that the first MAB might help with this new infection. They launched the process of resurrecting the old SARS programme, retrieving frozen cells that had been developed 16 years earlier, thawing them and determining if what worked for one novel coronavirus would work for another. Although there was 90 per cent similarity between the two coronaviruses, the monoclonal antibody exhibited no binding to the current coronavirus, the researchers said.— PTI
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/32lrVRc
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