1 antibody neutralizes a bunch of COVID virus variants
From www.futurity.org
2021-08-27 15:26:02
Tamara Bhandari-Washington University
Excerpt:
Researchers have identified an antibody that is highly protective at low doses against a wide range of variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.
The virus today is not the same as the one that first sickened people back in December 2019. Many of the variants circulating now are partially resistant to some of the antibody-based therapeutics that were developed based on the original virus. As the pandemic continues, more variants inevitably will arise, and the problem of resistance will only grow.
The newly identified antibody attaches to a part of the virus that differs little across the variants, meaning that it is unlikely for resistance to arise at this spot.
The research, which appears in the journal Immunity, could be a step toward developing new antibody-based therapies that are less likely to lose their potency as the virus mutates.