Science: Study the body's antibody response to the new coronavirus to develop a more effective vaccine.

A tool designed to detect a history of viral infections from a drop of blood was upgraded in the COVID-19 era.
VirScan is a technique that can determine which of the more than 1,000 different viruses have infected people, and can now detect evidence of coronavirus infection, including SARS-CoV-2.
In a new study, researchers from Briggan Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the United States provided a wealth of details about human antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and how the response might be different in individuals infected with more severe COVID-19.
results were published online September 29, 2020 in the journal Science under the title "Viral epitope profiling of COVID-19 patients reveals cross-react and correlates of severity".
VirScan tests the body fluid response to SARS-CoV-2 in the serum of PATIENT COVID-19 patients.
images from Science, 2020, doi:10.1126/science.abd4250.
in terms of solutions, this is probably the most in-depth serological analysis of any virus," said Dr. Stephen Elledge, a professor of genetics at Bregan Women's Hospital and author of the paper.
we now know more and more about antibodies produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 infections and how often they are produced.
next question is, what do these antibodies do? We need to determine which antibodies are inhibitory, or which, if any, may promote this viral infection and actually help it enter immune cells.
" analysis, Elledge and his colleagues analyzed blood samples from 232 COVID-19 patients and 190 controls prior to COVID-19 using VirScan to study the antibody response to SARS CoV-2.
identified 800 viral bits called epitopes that the immune system can identify.
not all of the tables are the same, and some of them may be identified by the antibody, which can lead to a response to the elimination of infection.
, however, if the body produces antibodies against other cousins, it may initiate a less effective response, giving the virus an advantage.
, viruses, including sars-CoV virus, can even benefit from the body's antibody response, using antibodies to enter cells, a phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement.
in the case of SARS-CoV-2, the Elledge team detected a series of antibody frequencies for different tables.
many of the epitopes are public epitopes that are --- by the immune system of a large number of patients.
one of the common tables was identified by 79% of COVID-19 patients.
other tables are considered private and are recognized by only a few people or even one person's immune system.
10 tables are present in key areas necessary for the virus to enter the host cell and may be identified by the antibody.
team developed a rapid diagnostic test using the most discernable tables.
the Elledge team's table findings could have a significant impact on vaccines.
If the immune system's response to the public table is found to be un protective--- even giving SARS-CoV-2 an advantage, the vaccine needs to target other areas of the virus to power the immune system.
In addition, the Elledge team found that several tables are conservative in different coronavirus, and when infected with SARS-CoV-2, the immune system is likely to try to reuse antibodies against those tables -- a possible explanation for why many serological tests for COVID-19 produce false positives.
Elledge team further analyzed the location and time of different antibody reactions and found that patients with severe COVID-19 were more likely to have a stronger and broader response to SARS-CoV-2, possibly because their initial immune response failed to control the virus infection early.
inpatients, men produce more antibodies than women.
the authors also compared the history of viral infections in hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients and found that hospitalized patients were more likely to be infected with cmV and HSV-1, two common herpes viruses.
However, the authors note that it is difficult to conclude that there is a causal relationship, given that the non-hospitalized population is younger and has a higher proportion of whites and women, and that the CMV infection rate in this demographic group is usually low.
Elledge envisions their study as a stepping stone to identifying the most effective antibodies and triggering their production.
, "Our paper sheds light on the antibody response spectrum in patients with COVID-19.
next, we need to identify antibodies that bind to these repeatedly identified meso-tables to determine whether they are meso-antibodies or antibodies that may exacerbate clinical manifestations in patients.
this could provide information for the development of improved diagnostic methods and vaccines for SARS-CoV-2.
" Reference: 1. Ellen Shrock et al. Viral epitope profiling of COVID-19 patients reveals cross-reactivity and correlates of severity. Science, 2020, doi:10.1126/science.abd4250.2.VirScan offers new insights into COVID-19 antibody response This article was originally published from Bio Valley, for more information please download Bio Valley APP (