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Recently, some countries have made claims about the successful development of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, it is not yet available for use by the general population.
Meanwhile, to tackle the COVID-19 disease, scientists have been repurposing various drugs such as remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin.
Apart from that, plasma therapy is also being administered to seriously ill patients. In the midst of all this, scientists from the University of Washington, the Institut Pasteur de Paris, and Vir Biotechnology in Switzerland have found an ultra-potent cocktail of human antibodies that can be used as antiviral therapy against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19
Previously, scientists had isolated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from SARS survivors and found that it could neutralize both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV by binding with the spike protein present on the outer shell of the virus, thus preventing than by binding to ACE2 receptors.
Monoclonal antibodies are artificially made molecules, which have the potential to mimic the antibodies produced by our body’s immune system to fight foreign microbes, called antigens. These mAbs bind to antigens and inactivate them.
The study
For the study, published in the journal Sciences On September 24, 2020, scientists examined 800 antibodies, isolated from 12 people who recovered from COVID-19. From those antibodies, the scientists isolated two powerful mAbs, S2E12 and S2M11.
To examine the efficacy of these two mAbs against SARS-CoV-2, the scientists tested each of them separately and then their cocktail on a group of Syrian hamsters, while a control group was also kept.
The mAbs were injected into the peritoneum (abdomen) of the hamsters in the experimental group and then both groups were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the nose.
After four days, the lungs of these hamsters were examined to find out how much infectious virus and viral RNA they contained.
The effective antibody cocktail against SARS-CoV-2
The result of the study showed that both the mAbs alone and their cocktails were able to reduce the amount of viral RNA in the lungs by 2 to 5 orders of magnitude compared to hamsters in the control group.
The study showed that administration of these mAbs at any dose significantly prevents viral replication in the lungs.
The cocktail of these two mAbs was also found to immediately activate Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity mediated by natural killer cells and Ab-dependent cellular phagocytosis, which promote virus clearance and also support the immune system.
Scientists believe that this type of cocktail can also prevent the spread of infection caused by naturally occurring mutant forms of the new coronavirus that have emerged during the pandemic.
To learn more, read our article on Monoclonal Antibodies and Their Importance in Fighting COVID-19.
The Health Articles on Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and largest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health.
