Scientists have identified an antibody in a lab that they state can prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting cells. The group hopes the antibody might be utilized to create treatments for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Given that the coronavirus began contaminating individuals in the main Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, more than 3.5 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, over a million have recovered and nearly 248,000 have passed away, according to Johns Hopkins University
The group, whose research was released in the journal Nature Communications, have actually been checking out whether what are known as monoclonal antibodies might assist patients with COVID-19 Currently there is no vaccine or particular treatment for the disease. Monoclonal antibodies are a type of protein created in a laboratory which can bind to a specific compound in the body. These kinds of antibodies mimic how the immune system reacts to a danger, and are used to treat some kinds of cancer.
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These infections are members of the large coronavirus family of pathogens which also includes SARS- CoV -2, the bug which causes COVID-19
Co-author Berend– Jan Bosch, associate teacher of the Utrecht University Infection and Immunity program, discussed in a declaration that the research constructs on work his group had actually done previously on antibodies which can target SARS- CoV, the infection which triggers SARS. Such a neutralizing antibody has p