Graph showing how antibodies attack mutant spike proteins

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, immunologists and infectious disease experts are eager to know whether the new variant is resistant to the human antibodies that recognized the original version of the virus
.

COVID-19 vaccines developed based on the chemistry and genetic code of this initial virus may provide less protection if the antibodies they help people produce cannot resist new virus strains

Corresponding author Duane Wesemann, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Genetics at Brigham University and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said: “Emerging data shows that vaccines can still be effective against new vaccines.
The SARS-CoV-2 mutation provides some protection.
Our research shows how this works from the perspective of antibodies
.

These data can help us think about how the best booster vaccine might be by studying how human antibodies recognize spike proteins What

The researchers tested the antibody-producing memory B cells of 19 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020 before the emergence of the new mutation
.

They studied how these antibodies and other antibodies that the researchers have identified bind to the spike protein models of the SARS-CoV-2 variants B.

Overall, the authors confirmed that the hundreds of antibodies they studied primarily bind to seven major "footprints" on the spike protein
.

Although many antibodies "compete" to bind to the same region of the earlier version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, when newer strains are involved, some antibodies lose their effectiveness, while others become neutralizing a broad response Agent

In particular, antibodies that bind to the two spike protein regions, called RBD-2 and NTD-1, are the most effective neutralizers in the original form of spike proteins
.

Facts have proved that the B.

Wesemann said: "Making different antibodies to compete for a region of the virus can make the immune system more flexible
.

Otherwise, redundant recognition of antibodies against the same footprint of the same virus version provides the depth of recognition of the same footprint of the variant.

# # #

Original search: Tong P et al.