GS Paper - III

Researchers have discovered an antibody that could counter all known variants of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and also distantly related ones that infect other animals.

Antibody for Covid 19

• SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing Covid-19, uses its spike protein to invade and infect another individual, or the host.
• Antibodies, produced by the host in response, bind to the spike protein to block its action and prevent infection.
• The researchers, led by those at The University of Texas in Austin, US, isolated the antibody 'SC27' from the plasma donated by four patients.
• These patients had breakthrough infections, which occur when a vaccinated individual gets infected. The research has been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.
• Over the more than four years since the first case of Covid-19 emerged, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to acquire certain characteristics which make the virus resistant to vaccines and treatments.

Significant of ‘SC27’

• The 'SC27' antibody recognised all these various characteristics of the spike proteins across Covid-19 variants.
• One goal of this research, and vaccinology in general, is to work toward a universal vaccine that can generate antibodies and create an immune response with broad protection to a rapidly mutating virus.
• The small number of individuals analysed may limit the interpretation of the data and leave it unclear how common the SC27-like antibody might be in human populations.
• The researchers used the technology IgG proteomics, or 'Ig-Seq', to study hybrid immunity, which is one's antibody response to both infection and vaccination.
• The discovery of SC27, and other antibodies like it in the future, will help us better protect the population against current and future Covid-19 variants.
• The researchers also found that hybrid immunity offered an increased protection against the disease, compared with infection or vaccination alone.