They detect antibodies against the coronavirus that can replace booster doses

The corona virus infection is still affecting humanity. Although the number of cases has decreased recently, There are still people who can catch the virus. As of now, 64% of the world’s population has received the primary vaccination schedule. 31% agreed to booster doses, which are used because the safety of the primary regimen decreases over time.

There is a possibility that new variants will emerge in the future Israeli researchers They did a in advance Can be an option Booster doses are not needed in the future. For now, reinforcements should be used as that preference continues to develop.

Globally, the weekly number of COVID-19 cases fell by 12% in the week of August 29 to September 4 compared to the previous week, with fewer than 4.2 million new cases reported. World Health Organization. The number of weekly deaths fell by 5% compared to the previous week, with more than 13,700 people infected. A lot of research is going on to prepare for the future. On the one hand, specific booster doses against Omicron have been developed. All four vaccines are available by mouth or nose. Additionally, there is now an opportunity to develop an intervention that works against all current or emerging variants.

This possibility arises from the investigation of Tel-Aviv University. Led by scientists from the institute Natalia is a friend, was able to isolate two antibodies that neutralize all known variants of Covid-19, including Ómicron, the first this year. So far it works efficiently 95%.

Targeted therapy with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high concentrations could serve as an effective alternative to vaccines, especially for at-risk populations and weakened immune systems. With antibody therapy, there is the potential to eliminate the need for repeated booster shots in the entire population each time a new variant emerges, the scientists estimate.

Researchers have demonstrated that antibodies isolated from the immune system of recovered Covid-19 patients are effective in neutralizing all known variants of the virus. Delta and Omicron. According to researchersThe discovery could eliminate the need for repeated booster vaccinations and boost the immune system of at-risk populations.

PhD students also participated in the research. Michael More Y Reuben Lee, from the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Sackler School of Medicine. This study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ben Crocker, from the University of California, San Diego. Teacher Ye Xiang from Tsinghua University, Beijing. Teacher Rest of the stone-thanami And the doctor Moshe Dessau Bar-Ilan University also participated in the study. The study is published in the journal Nature Communication Biology.

The study is a continuation of the preliminary work carried out in October 2020, amid the Covid-19 crisis. At that time, Dr. Freund and his colleagues sequenced all the immune system B cells in the blood of people who had recovered from the original strain of the coronavirus in Israel, and isolated nine antibodies produced by the patients. Researchers have now found that some of these antibodies are very effective at neutralizing new strains of the coronavirus, Delta and Omicron. Clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of the antibodies will be needed for the treatments.

According to Freund, “In a previous study, we showed that the different antibodies produced in response to infection with the parental virus are directed against different sites of the virus. Antibodies that bind to the spike protein of the virus at the same site where the spike binds to the cellular receptor ACE2 are the most effective antibodies. Of course, we weren’t the only ones to isolate these antibodies, and the World Health Organization used them until different strains of the coronavirus came along, and in fact most of these antibodies were ineffective.

“In the current study, two other antibodies, TAU-1109 and TAU-2310, bind to the spike protein of the virus, which until now is in a region different from the region where most antibodies are enriched. (and therefore less effective at neutralizing the original strain) They are actually very effective at neutralizing delta and omicron types. According to our results, the efficacy of the first antibody, TAU-1109, to neutralize the omicron variant was 92% and to neutralize the delta variant, 90%. A second antibody, TAU-2310, neutralized the Omicron variant with 84% efficiency and the Delta variant with 97% efficiency.

Dr. According to Freund, the surprising effectiveness of these antibodies may be related to the evolution of the virus: “Each time the amino acid sequence of the part of the spike protein that binds to the ACE2 receptor changed, the infectivity of the virus increased with each variant., thereby increasing its infectivity and at the same time avoiding the natural antibodies produced after vaccinations. In contrast, the TAU-1109 and TAU-2310 antibodies did not bind to the ACE2 receptor binding site, but to another region of the spike protein—a region that for some reason did not undergo many mutations—and They are therefore effective in neutralizing more viral variants. These findings arose when we tested all strains of the coronavirus known to date.

Two antibodies, Dr. at Tel Aviv University. Cloned in Freund’s laboratory, they were sent to test their effectiveness against live viruses in cultures. against pseudoviruses at the University of California San Diego and Bar-Ilan University School of Medicine in the Galilee. The results were similar and equally encouraging in both experiments.

Freund believes that antibodies can be a real revolution in the fight against COVID-19: “We must consider the COVID-19 epidemic in the context of previous disease outbreaks that humanity has seen. People who were vaccinated against smallpox at birth and who are 50 years old today have antibodies, so they may be partially protected against the recently heard of monkeypox virus.He pointed out.

Unfortunately, this protection from the smallpox vaccine is not provided for the coronavirus vaccines. “For reasons we don’t fully understand yet, the level of antibodies to COVID-19 drops significantly after three months, which is why we see people getting re-infected even after three doses of the vaccine.” , the researcher warned.

“In our opinion, selective antibody therapy and its administration to the body at higher concentrations may serve as a better alternative to repeated booster doses, especially in at-risk populations and those with weakened immune systems. COVID-19 infection can cause severe disease, and we know that giving antibodies in the first few days after infection can prevent the virus from spreading. So, it is possible “By using effective antibody therapy, we don’t have to give the whole population a booster dose every time there’s a new variant,” he said.

Consulted by InfobayDoctor Laura Bower, The Argentinian scientist and director of monoclonal antibodies at the MD Anderson Center in the United States evaluated the results of the research published in the journal. Nature Communication Biology. “The most important step, as suggested by Cesar Milstein, is when antibodies are made “Screening”. In other words, testing is key to selecting the most effective antibodies to achieve the proposed objective., “For diagnostic use or localization of a ‘target’ molecule in a therapeutic or probe molecule,” he explained.

A team led by a scientist from Israel – noted Dr. bower- “Antibody genetic material isolated from antibody-producing plasma cells was used to generate recombinant antibodies and tested against them. Receptor binding domain In all categories mentioned in the study. They selected those that bound with high affinity, and neutralized both virus particles and pseudoviruses, and introduced specific mutations present in different strains and measured how these parameters were affected. That selection process allows them to choose the best candidates to join and moderate known variations.

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