Researchers have discovered an antibody that can fight all known variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, as well as distantly related variants that infect other animals.
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, uses its spike protein to invade and infect another person, or host. Antibodies produced by the host in response bind to the spike protein, blocking its action and preventing infection.
Researchers led by the University of Texas at Austin, US, isolated the antibody ‘SC27’ from plasma donated by four patients who had breakthrough infections, which occurs when a vaccinated person becomes infected.
This research has been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.
In the more than four years since the first case of COVID-19 was reported, SARS-CoV-2 has acquired some characteristics that make the virus resistant to vaccines and treatments.
The authors said the ‘SC27’ antibody recognised all these different features of the spike protein in Covid-19 variants.
“One of the goals of this research, and of vaccinology in general, is to work toward a universal vaccine that can generate antibodies and produce an immune response with broad protection against a rapidly mutating virus,” said William Voss, one of the lead authors and a PhD graduate in cell and molecular biology at the University of Texas.
However, the authors also acknowledged that “the small number of individuals analysed may limit the interpretation of the data and leave it unclear how common SC27-like antibodies may be in the human population.” The researchers used IgG proteomics or ‘Ig-Seq’ technology to study hybrid immunity, which is an individual’s antibody response to both infection and vaccination.
“The discovery of SC27, and the future discovery of other antibodies like it, will help us better protect the population against current and future COVID-19 variants,” said study author Jason Lavinder of the University of Texas.
The researchers also found that hybrid immunity provided greater protection against the disease than infection or vaccination alone.
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