Two antibodies found in Israel may fight all known Covid strains

Israeli researchers have identified two antibodies from the immune systems of COVID-19 patients who have recovered. These antibodies have a 95% chance of neutralising all known strains of SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron. The Tel Aviv University researchers stated that, particularly for at-risk groups and those with compromised immune systems, tailored therapy with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high quantities may serve as an efficient replacement for vaccinations.

The researchers claimed there is a chance that antibody therapy would reduce the requirement to administer repeated booster doses to the whole population each time a new variation appears.

The investigation, which was only just published in the journal Communications Biology, is an extension of initial work done in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. At that time, the scientists discovered nine antibodies that the patients made after sequencing all of the B immune system cells from the blood of persons who had recovered from the initial COVID-19 strain in Israel.

The researchers now found that some of these antibodies are very effective in neutralising the new coronavirus variants, Delta and Omicron. “In the previous study, we showed that the various antibodies that are formed in response to infection with the original virus are directed against different sites of the virus,” said Natalia Freund, who co-led the study.

“The most effective antibodies were those that bound to the virus’s ‘spike’ protein, in the same place where the spike binds the cellular receptor ACE2,” Freund said.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses the spike protein to infect and enter the cells. In the current study, the researchers proved that two other antibodies, TAU-1109 and TAU-2310, which bind the viral spike protein in a different area from the region where most of the antibodies were concentrated until now are actually very effective in neutralising the Delta and Omicron variants. “According to our findings, the effectiveness of the first antibody, TAU-1109, in neutralising the Omicron strain is 92 per cent, and in neutralising the Delta strain, 90 per cent.,” Freund said.

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