Researchers at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands created an anti-COVID-19 antibody that was able to defeat the virus in the laboratory, Bloomberg reports.
The study was held at the University of Urecht, it was attended by German and Dutch scientists. They managed to synthesize a monoclonal antibody, that is, proteins similar to those produced by human immune cells. Such antibodies act on a particular vulnerable area of the pathogen – in this case, on a protein in the form of a corona, through which the virus enters the human body.
The results of the experiment show that the 47D11 antibody is able to defeat not only the coronavirus, but also a virus that has a similar coronavoid protein – SARS (the virus that causes acute respiratory syndrome or SARS).
The achievements of scientists in the development of antibodies became known in mid-March, but on May 4, their article was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.
This is only the first step in the search for a cure for coronavirus: the antibody will have to be tested on animals, and then on humans. But if everything goes well, the antibody in the future will help prevent and treat coronavirus, both separately and as part of complex therapy. Antibodies of this type have already revolutionized the treatment of cancer, writes Bloomberg.
—
