Monoclonal antibody “cocktail” blocks COVID-19 changes: A study

A monoclonal antibody “cocktail” developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to effectively neutralize the COVID-19 virus against all, or several, strains of the virus, according to a report published in the journal Nature’s cure.

That was one of the findings reported by a multi-institutional team led by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis. Louis.

In cell culture studies, the researchers determined the potential of monoclonal antibodies in addition to antibodies isolated from the “convalescent plasma” of previously infected individuals to induce highly transmissible mutations of the SARS-CoV virus. -2 which has emerged in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere.

In general, most monoclonal antibodies developed to fight COVID-19 showed “reduced neutralizing potency,” specifically against strains of the virus with a specific mutation at position 484 in the “spike” protein. surface, which allows the virus to attach to it and insert its host cell in the body.

However, several other highly neutral monoclonal antibody cocktails, including those developed at VUMC, showed total or only reduced activity against the tested variables, possibly because they are targeting sites on the spike protein as well as the highly mobile E484K residue.

The study identified significantly fewer neoplasms of variable viruses containing this E484K combination with antibodies in sera of both previously vaccinated people and COVID-19, further clarifying the need for variable immunosuppressive therapies such as an VUMC antibody cocktail.

“This study highlights the importance of reasonably designed antibody cocktails like the ones we developed,” said James Crowe, Jr., MD, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center (VVC) and Ann Scott Carell Professor in Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology and Psychology at Vanderbilt.

“We selected two antibodies to create a combination that would specifically resist escape with SARS-CoV-2,” Crowe said. “Fortunately, this work and several other recently published papers show that the protection mediated by the antibodies we have found that are now in six phase 3 clinical trials between different to extend to all conventional anxiety variables. “

Robert Carnahan, PhD, associate director of VVC and associate professor of Pediatrics, said, “These findings that the antibodies we are developing inhibit the new SARS-CoV- variants. 2 much more important since some previously agreed monoclonal antibody treatments look very unlike protection against these variables.

“Using our antibody-resistant cocktails will provide an important new tool for controlling COVID-19 pandemic disease,” Carnahan said.

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In the last two and a half years, VUMC researchers have developed ultra-fast methods? To detect strong antiviral human monoclonal antibodies and to test their ability to protect small animals and non-human primates.

The VUMC antibodies described in the paper published today – COV2-2196 and COV2-2130 – were separated from the blood of a couple from Wuhan, China, who were tested for COVID-19 after traveling to Toronto in January 2020. They were two of the earliest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in North America.

The antibodies were among six approved by global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in June for advancement into clinical development. In October the company announced that they were moving to phase 3 clinical trials, a test study made up of two long-acting antibodies detected at VUMC and updated by AstraZeneca.

Today’s study also included researchers from the Medical Branch of the University of Texas at Galveston, the Southwestern Texas University Medical Center in Dallas, and the Swiss company Vir Biotechnology.

Others from VUMC contributed to the research Naveen Suryadevara, PhD, Pavlo Gilchuk, PhD, and Seth Zost, PhD.

The research at VUMC was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Vanderbilt’s Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund, and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.