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Tiny biologic drug to fight COVID-19 show promise in animal models

Posted in Diagnostics and Lab Tests, Lung and pulmonology, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment Protocols for COVID-19, tagged , , , , on October 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Tiny biologic drug to fight COVID-19 show promise in animal models

Reporter : Irina Robu, PhD

A research team at University of Pittsburg School of Medicine identified an antibody component that is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody. Their research published in Cell, indicates that the drug, Ab8 based on it is effective in mice and hamsters. The research was started by screening a library of about 100 billion antibody fragments to identify candidates that bound tightly to the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2’s surface, which the virus uses to enter and infect human cells.

A typical antibody consists of two heavy chains and two light chains. The chosen molecule is the variable domain of the heavy chain of an immunoglobulin, which is a type of antibody. The heavy chain variable domain is essential for binding with an antigen. Ab8 was created by fusing the variable, heavy chain domain with part of the immunoglobulin tail region, giving it immune functions but doing so with a molecule that’s about half the size of a full immunoglobulin.

The smaller size of the antibody can improve the therapeutic efficacy for infectious diseases and can be delivered through inhalation. Their research showed that Ab8 completely neutralized SARS-CoV-2 in lab dishes. The drug developed showed that inhibited the virus in lung tissue in animal body even at the lowest dose 2 mg/kg as compared to untreated controls.

The research team is looking to determine the drug effect in hamsters, which were reported to have better clinical signatures of COVID-19. And the hamsters that got the drug display less severe pneumonia that did the control animals. Drugs with alternative administration routers could provide additions to the first wave of COVID-19 therapies and vaccines.

What is more important, Ab8 does not appear to bind to human cells which is a good sign that it won’t have negative side effects.

SOURCE

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/small-sized-biologic-against-covid-19-shows-promise-animal-models

 

 

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