Antibodies are proteins the body naturally makes to protect the body from a threat like Covid-19.
To make what's called monoclonal antibodies for an antibody cocktail, scientists comb through thousands of antibodies to figure out which ones fight the novel coronavirus most effectively.he antibody selection process by using mouse models and B cells from people who contracted COVID-19 to generate a large library of antibodies that could neutralize the virus by targeting the spike protein on its surface.
They narrowed down the selection to eight of the most potent antibodies.two antibodies, scaled them up and put them into a medicine that it hopes can be used to treat symptoms and possibly even work as protection for vulnerable communities such as the elderly or health care workers.
This involved determining which antibodies could bind most effectively to the spike protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The cocktail is similar to REGN-EB3, a triple-antibody drug developed by Regeneron for treating Ebola. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/06/regeneron-begin-trials-covid-19-antibody-cocktail
It is an antiviral antibody -end to end biotechnology - https://www.regeneron.com/covid19
Two Science Publications Highlight Potential of REGN-COV2 Anti-Viral Antibody Cocktail to Protect Against SARS-CoV-2 Escape Mutants
TARRYTOWN, N.Y., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --
Regeneron utilized 'rapid response' VelociSuite® technologies to identify pairs of potent and complementary antibodies that could be combined into antibody 'cocktails' for COVID-19
Cocktail approach protects against viral mutants by requiring simultaneous mutation at multiple genetic positions for viral escape
This could be similar concept to multiple-epitope-peptide vaccine, where several promising proteins are 'fused together' for the vaccine (1, 2). Companies are doing this kind of vaccines for COVID-19.
(1) Article Reverse vaccinology approach to design a novel multi-epitope...
(2) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67749-1 (
A candidate multi-epitope vaccine against SARS-CoV-2)
Amal Alhasan By the way, an antibody cocktail (pre-made antibodies (clonal antibodies)), or “antibody medicine”, is intends for providing short-term, passive immunity, as opposed to the lasting active immunity of a vaccine, in which the body learns to manufacture its own antibodies.
Dear Dr. Alhasan!
YOU raised an essential point to consider! May I argue that a plasma therapy-based process with medicines could be more effective compared to simple medicine - cocktail:
1) Nicoletta Lanese (2020). "Antibody cocktail to prevent and treat COVID-19 enters late-stage trials" July 8 2020, Citation: " Now, one such therapy, known as REGN-COV2, has entered Phase 3 clinical trials to evaluate whether the treatment can prevent COVID-19 infection among healthy people who have had close contact with an infected person, such as a housemate, according to ClinicalTrials.gov." © Future US, Inc. Available at:
https://www.livescience.com/antibody-cocktail-for-covid19-trial.html
2) Jonathan Abraham (2020). "Passive antibody therapy in COVID-19" 12 June 2020, Nature Reviews Immunology, Vol. 20, 401-403 (2020), Citation: "As the world awaits SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to be tested and safely deployed, the rapidity with which antiviral monoclonal antibodies can be isolated and engineered offers an attractive alternative option for passive immunization." © 2020 Springer Nature Limited, Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0365-7
In addition this kind of treatment can be in the future the starting point for further applications in the fight against mutated versions of this new COVID-19. A forthcoming interactive webinar could be a place to discuss this matter:
Dr. Michael J. Miller (2020)."Rapid Microbiology Applications in the COVID-19 Era" - BrihhtTALK free of charge online platform webinar scheduled to take place on: 4 August 2020, Additional details: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/10519/413804/rapid-microbiology-applications-in-the-covid-19-era
To register for free please visit: https://www.brighttalk.com/join/
Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely
It is an antiviral antibody -end to end biotechnology - https://www.regeneron.com/covid19
Immunotherapies need to be viewed with caution. However, although expensive, I believe that the future of treatment is immunotherapy.
Amal Alhasan
Thanks for sharing this Amal. This phenomenon of anti- specific antibodies to consider as vaccine molecule is there for so long. However there is problem here that depends on the stability of any pathogen. As Reji Joseph said that how would one tackle with frequently generated mutants. In case of SARS CoV-2 there are more than 30 mutants produced, would those mutations will be significant ????? Time will tell as the vaccines are on trials.
Reji Joseph Thanks for sharing your view.
A recent study that was reportedly done at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, West Bengal suggests that there are at least 11 different strains of SARS-CoV-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19) in the world. A strain is a subtype of a virus that is created due to a mutation in the genome (genes) of the said virus.
As per the study, the original strain of the COVID-19 causing virus was named O type or ancestral type. But from this strain at least 10 different strains had originated. Out of these 10 new strains, a strain called A2a is currently the most prevalent in the world as well as in India.
The A2a strain
The A2a strain reportedly has an advantage over its peers in that it can better bind with the ACE-2 receptors in the lungs - which is what the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to enter into healthy cells.
This happened due to a change in a single amino acid (building blocks of proteins) — from aspartic acid to glycine — in the spike protein of the virus.
The stronger this virus binds to its receptors the more chances of it entering a healthy cell and replicating.
Viral mutations
A mutation is a change in the DNA or, in the case of SARS-CoV-2, the RNA sequence of an organism, which may or may not be significant enough to give an evolutionary advantage to the said organism. In most cases, only the mutations that give a selective advantage to a virus to survive better in a said system will be allowed and the others will be eliminated by natural selection.
Unlike what most people think, mutations are quite common and occur spontaneously during the replication of DNA - every cell has to make a new copy of nucleic acid when they divide. In most organisms, these mutations are corrected by a proofreading mechanism. SARS-CoV-2 also has one such proofreading mechanism that has kept a lot of its genes conserved so far.
Still, a study done in China has previously suggested that there were at least two different types of SARS-CoV-2 in China during the beginning of January 2020. The S type of the ancestral type is less virulent and the L type is more virulent. After early January, the presence of L type has significantly reduced and S type is more commonly seen. The presence of L types strain is being considered a possible cause of high death rate in Gujrat, though there isn’t strong evidence to prove this, apart from a single genome studied at Gujrat Biotechnology Research Center.
It is important to note that not all viruses have an efficient proofreading system in place. The machinery that RNA viruses use to replicate its genetic material is prone to faults and hence most RNA viruses quickly develop new strains. Studies indicate that a mutation occurs almost every replication cycle of an RNA virus and a single person may have several mutants of the same virus in their body.
DNA viruses, on the other hand, mutate much less - about a single mutation after several thousand rounds of replications in some cases.
Apart from proofreading errors, damage to the nucleic acid and inability to correct the errors after replication are some causes of mutation in viruses.
Study claims there are 11 strains of SARS-CoV-2: Here's how viruses mutate
A strain is a subtype of a virus that is created due to a mutation in the genome (genes) of the said virus.
Health news -First post
It is definitely a potential treatment. Hopefully more research s available in time to come to access its reliability.
No proven benefit yet. The timing of administering should be early. Let's hope for evidence in the coming times. A plausible mechanism cannot be denied. However, plasma therapy has not proven benefit in studies yet, so I am less hopefull
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