Corona: "Pan-Sars virus" antibodies discovered - laboratory monkeys could provide the key to universal vaccination
Created: 08/12/2022, 17:53
By: Anna Lorenz
Studies in laboratory monkeys regarding corona vaccination may have achieved a breakthrough in antibody research.
The findings could enable a universal vaccine against Covid.
San Diego (CA) – The corona pandemic continues to be a daily topic.
Assessments for the coming autumn suggest that the virus will keep the world busy for a long time.
The vaccinations that are offered against a Covid infection are suitable for reducing the risk of infection, but have the rapid mutation of the virus as an antagonist.
Scientists at Scripps Research, a medical research facility at the University of San Diego, have now been able to identify antibodies that appear to be effective against any form of the virus.
Corona: Researchers discover so-called “pan-SARS virus” antibodies in experiments with laboratory monkeys
The results, which were published in the journal
Science Translational Medicine
on August 10, 2022 , sound promising: In experiments with rhesus monkeys and macaques, the researchers were able to determine that the animals can produce antibody structures that are directed against a wide range of different forms of the virus.
The reason is that the antibodies also attach to the spike protein, but at a point that is "relatively more conserved".
This means that the corresponding structure is not affected by mutations as much as other parts of the protein.
Because it is present in many different SARS viruses, it appears to be a relatively more stable part of the virus.
If successful in developing vaccines that produce the discovered "pan-SARS virus" antibody in humans, it could "provide protection against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and other SARS-related viruses," the researchers said .
Corona: universal vaccination thanks to laboratory monkeys?
Genome differences add a catch to the prospect
"The antibody structures reveal an important domain shared by several SARS-related viruses.
This region has rarely been observed as a target for human antibodies and suggests additional strategies that can be used to trick our immune system into recognizing this particular region of the virus," said co-senior author Ian Wilson, DPhil, of the chair in Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at the University of San Diego.
However, there is a catch: the "pan-SARS virus" antibodies are encoded by the gene IGHV3-73.
Although the rhesus monkeys and macaques have a genome very similar to that of humans, the gene in question does not set the tone for the immune response in the latter.
In humans, this is "related to the IGHV3-53 gene, which produces a strong but much narrower neutralizing antibody response," according to the scientists.
However, as Dennis Burton, PhD, senior author and chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology envisions, "advanced protein design strategies" could be used to try to make "pan-SARS virus" antibodies available to humans.
In view of the Omicron and Centaurus, the development of a universal vaccine would be desirable - the researchers agree, however, that it still requires a lot of more detailed investigations.
(askl)
