Scientists have Identified Synthetic Mini-Antibodies to Stop COVID-19 from Infecting Human Cells

A group of scientists has identified synthetic mini-antibodies to stop Covid-19 from entering the human cell. For this, scientists at EMBL Hamburg carried out the screening of thousands of synthetic mini-antibodies called sybodies to come to this effective conclusion.

It is found that SARS-CoV-2 infection with the human cells is dependent on the interactions between the viral spike protein and the human cell surface protein, ACE2. When the spike protein binds ACE2 with the three finger-like protrusions, known as receptor-binding domains (RBDs), the virus infects the human cell.

For the Covid-19 virus to stop interacting with the human cells, it is crucial to block the RBDs. It is only possible by making the use of antibodies. Nanobodies, small antibodies present in camels and IIames offer favorable results to block the RBDs due to their small size and high stability.

Extracting these antibodies from animals takes a lot of time but the process can be speeded up with the use of technological advancement. This way, one can easily select synthetic nanobodies, known as sybodies. One such technology platform for the selection of sybodies from synthetic libraries was recently developed in the lab of Markus Seeger at the University of Zurich and it was used in this study at EMBL Hamburg.

Scientists carried out a deep search to find the existing libraries to identify sybodies that could block SARS-CoV-2 from interacting with human cells. They also learn about the way sybody 23 associates with the viral RBDs by using small-angle X-ray scattering. The obtained results could offer potential ways to treat COVID-19 in an effective manner in the near future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.