Covid antibodies discovered thanks to research using an all-Italian techniqueFederico II University of Naples. They recognize the SarsCoV2 virus and block the English variant.
I nuovi anticorpi sono capaci di contrastare l’infezione del virus SarsCoV2 responsabile della pandemia di Covid-19, della sua variante inglese (o alfa, secondo la nuova nomeclatura) e che sono in grado di bloccare anche altri coronavirus.
The result, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was obtained in the laboratories of CEINGE-Advanced Biotechnology in Naples by researchers from the Covid-19 Task Force funded by the Campania Region.
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The aim of the project was to identify "new human antibodies useful for inhibiting infection by the SarsCoV2 virus", said the research coordinator, Claudia De Lorenzo, full professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology of the University Federico II and principal investigator of CEINGE. The starting point was the analysis of fragments of human antibodies, among which those that had affinities were selected.
In this way, antibodies were identified that were able to specifically bind the Spike protein, the main weapon with which the SarsCoV2 virus attaches itself to cells.
“We chose a specific region of the Spike protein, which we know is present on the viral coat and is responsible for the interaction with the ACE2 receptor on the surface of the cells of our respiratory tract,” added De Lorenzo. Some of the antibodies obtained, he added, “have proven capable of inhibiting the infection of human cell cultures of the SarsCoV2 virus and its English variant.”
Article published on 4 June 2021 - 13:01
