New antibodies have been discovered thanks to a technique developed in Italy capable of counteracting the infection of the SarsCoV2 virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, of its English variant (or alpha, according to the new name) and which are able to block other coronaviruses.
The result, published in Scientific Reports, was obtained in the CEINGE-Advanced Biotechnology laboratories of Naples by researchers of the Covid-19 Task Force funded by the Campania Region.
The aim of the project was to identify "new human antibodies useful for inhibiting the infection of the SarsCoV2 virus", said the research coordinator, Claudia De Lorenzo, professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology of the Federico II University principal investigator of CEINGE. The starting point was the analysis of human antibody fragments, among which those that had affinities were selected. In this way, antibodies were identified capable of specifically binding the Spike protein, the main weapon with which the SarsCoV2 virus attaches to cells.
"We chose a specific region of the Spike protein, which we know is present on the viral coat and which is responsible for the interaction with the ACE2 receptor on the surface of the cells of our airways," added De Lorenzo. Some of the antibodies obtained, he added, "have been shown to inhibit the infection of human cell cultures with the SarsCoV2 virus and its English variant".
The new technique used, say the researchers, could allow in the future to isolate other antibodies specific to certain regions of the molecular targets that play a key role in the pathology that is intended to be combated. Another advantage of the technique is that it allows to generate antibodies that do not induce inflammation and which, consequently, should not cause unwanted side effects. Isolated in cell cultures, the results will now need to be confirmed and validated in vivo.
The research was collaborated by the groups directed by Massimo Zollo and Nicola Zambrano, both of the Federico II University and principal investigator of CEINGE, with the contribution of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of the South. Researchers Margherita Passariello, research fellow, and Cinzia Vetrei, doctoral student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology of Federico II also worked on the project in Claudia De Lorenzo's group.
