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Scientists have identified a pair of neutralizing antibodies, isolated from a patient who recovered from COVID-19, that may offer therapeutic benefits and help design molecular antivirals and vaccine candidates to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Antibodies identified by the researchers, including those from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, bind to the glycoprotein peak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, blocking the peak’s ability to bind to the human ACE2 receptor and mediate viral entry into cells. Guest.
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Preliminary tests of the two antibodies, called B38 and H4, in a mouse model resulted in a reduction in virus titers, the researchers said.
The finding, published in the journal Science, suggests that the antibodies may offer therapeutic benefits, in addition to informing the design of small-molecule therapies and vaccine candidates to combat COVID-19, they said.
Researcher Yan Wu from Capital Medical University, China and colleagues discovered that the antibodies can simultaneously bind to different epitopes in the spike receptor binding domain (RBD).
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Due to this binding, both antibodies together can confer a stronger neutralizing effect than either antibody alone, a prediction supported by in vitro experiments, they said.
This feature also means that if one of the viral epitopes mutates in a way that prevents the binding of one of the two antibodies, the other may still retain its neutralizing activity, according to the researchers.
By imaging the structure of the B38-linked viral peak RBD, the team confirmed that the antibody binds to a subset of the ACE2-linked amino acids, they said.
This, the researchers explained, provides an explanation for why the B38 antibody confers such strong neutralizing effects.
They suggest that a “cocktail” containing both antibodies could provide direct therapeutic benefits for COVID-19 patients.
The finding regarding viral peak epitopes could also help the development of small-molecule antivirals and vaccine candidates to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers added.
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