An antibody that scientists first identified in a blood sample from a person who recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) strongly inhibits the virus that causes COVID-19. The scientists who discovered the antibody are racing to bring it to clinical trials.
There are currently no proven treatments for COVID-19, the respiratory illness that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causes, and nobody can say with any certainty when a safe, effective vaccine will be ready.
News of the development of a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes the virus and could, in theory, be ready to treat patients in clinical trials within 5–6 months is, therefore, very welcome.
The antibody, or a combination of different antibodies, may serve either to treat newly infected cases or as a prophylactic in people at high risk of infection.
Molecular biologists can select an antibody that reliably targets a specific protein sequence of a pathogen. Cells that are clones of the original, antibody-producing cell then make millions of identical monoclonal antibodies.
Scientists originally identified the antibody in question in the blood of a person who had had a SARS infection, which results from a virus that is closely related to SARS-CoV-2. The individual had the infection 17 years ago in the SARS outbreak of 2002–2004 and recovered from it.
For several years, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UW Medicine) have been studying SARS-CoV antibodies from this individual.
Looking for antibodies in someone who had an infection with SARS-CoV rather than SARS-CoV-2 is what “allowed us to move so fast compared to other groups,” says David Veesler, assistant professor of biochemistry at the university and a senior author of the new study.
A company called Vir Biotechnology is now fast tracking the development and testing of the antibody, called S309, with a view to putting it through clinical trials as soon as possible.
The antibody not only neutralizes SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 but may also neutralize other coronaviruses in the same subgenus.
The researchers report their findings in a peer reviewed paper currently undergoing preparation for publication in Nature.
In an unedited version of their manuscript, they write:
“Passive administration of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) could have a major impact on controlling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic by pro