Re:Clues to Covid-19 coronavirus’s vulnerability emerge from...
by twic on Saturday April 04, 2020 @02:37PM
(#22780402)
From the actual paper [0]:
Antibodies to this influenza HA trimeric interface epitope [that we studied before SARS-nCov-2 came along] do not exhibit in vitro neutralization activity but can confer in vivo protection. Similarly, antibodies to another conserved epitope that partially overlaps with the influenza HA trimeric interface also are non-neutralizing in vitro, but protective in vivo (26). Examples of antibodies that do not have in vitro neutralization activity but confer in vivo protection, have also been reported for influenza virus (27), herpesvirus (28), cytomegalovirus (29), alphavirus (30), and dengue virus (31). Therefore, although CR3022 does not neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, it is possible that this epitope can confer in vivo protection.
So the lack of in vitro neutralisation isn't a showstopper.
Still, that bit reads like reaching to me. We shouldn't expect this antibody to be that useful, although we can hope.
Moreover, i suspect we shouldn't think about manufactured antibodies as a treatment for COVID-19 at all, as i doubt we have the manufacturing capacity for biologicals to use them against a pandemic on this scale.
Rather, i think this points towards this part of the virus being a good target for vaccines. If you can make a nice little edited version of that epitope (the SARS-nCov-2 version), you might be able to use it to make a vaccine which raise neutralising antibodies.
Antibodies to this influenza HA trimeric interface epitope [that we studied before SARS-nCov-2 came along] do not exhibit in vitro neutralization activity but can confer in vivo protection. Similarly, antibodies to another conserved epitope that partially overlaps with the influenza HA trimeric interface also are non-neutralizing in vitro, but protective in vivo (26). Examples of antibodies that do not have in vitro neutralization activity but confer in vivo protection, have also been reported for influenza virus (27), herpesvirus (28), cytomegalovirus (29), alphavirus (30), and dengue virus (31). Therefore, although CR3022 does not neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, it is possible that this epitope can confer in vivo protection.
So the lack of in vitro neutralisation isn't a showstopper.
Still, that bit reads like reaching to me. We shouldn't expect this antibody to be that useful, although we can hope.
Moreover, i suspect we shouldn't think about manufactured antibodies as a treatment for COVID-19 at all, as i doubt we have the manufacturing capacity for biologicals to use them against a pandemic on this scale.
Rather, i think this points towards this part of the virus being a good target for vaccines. If you can make a nice little edited version of that epitope (the SARS-nCov-2 version), you might be able to use it to make a vaccine which raise neutralising antibodies.
[0] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/02/scie...