<p>Indian scientists have discovered a new monoclonal antibody against Covid-19 that gives protection against five Variants of Concerns of SARS-CoV-2, and five sub-lineages of the highly infectious Omicron that continues to infect a few thousand Indians daily.</p>.<p>Besides opening up a new treatment window against Covid-19, the discovery may help scientists design new vaccine candidates and create antibodies against possible new variants of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other new infections.</p>.<p>This is because the new antibody targets a unique portion of the virus that is highly conserved across a diverse spectrum of the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. In other words, this part of the pathogen has hardly changed even as the virus kept mutating.</p>.<p>Monoclonal antibody is a new class of therapy besides drugs and vaccines. It is an antibody (protein) produced from a cell line made by cloning a unique white blood cell.</p>.<p>"Unlike other monoclonal antibodies that target the (virus) areas that are hotspot for mutation, our monoclonal antibody attacks the proteins that remain same across SARS-CoV2 variants,” Anmol Chandele, a senior scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, here and lead investigator of the project told DH.</p>.<p>Since it targets a highly conserved area on the outer surface of the receptor binding domain of the virus, the antibody is broad-spectrum, killing all the known problematic variants in laboratory studies.</p>.<p>Chandele and her collaborators from ICMR’s National Institute of Malaria Research and Emory Vaccine Centre, Atlanta tested the human monoclonal antibody against several SARS-CoV-2 variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and the recently emerging and highly infectious Omicron sub-lineages such as BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12, BA.4 and BA.5 and found that it maintains its neutralization potency against all these variants of concern.</p>.<p>Omicron and its sub lineages can evade natural and vaccine-generated immunity and pose a threat to immune-compromised, vaccine-hesitant, and unvaccinated adults and children.</p>.<p>However, only two of the currently approved therapeutic antibodies have shown neutralization potential to Omicron — sotrovimab and bebtelovimab. The second one is prescribed in the US</p>.<p>Explaining the molecular structure of the new antibody (named 002-S21F2) in a study published in Science Advances, the scientists said it had tremendous potential to treat Covid-19 patients.</p>.<p>ICMR, ICGEB, Department of Biotechnology and Emory jointly hold the patent on the new antibody, derived from Covid-19 recovered Indian patients. Since it is derived from humans, there is no issue on tolerance.</p>.<p>Chandele said new and better quality vaccines could be designed using the new antibody and the scientific information that came up. Concurs virologist Shahid Jameel, a former ICGEB scientist who currently is a Research Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.</p>.<p>“It’s too late for this to work as a Covid-19 therapeutic, but it can inform on making a broadly effective vaccine. It also shows that Indian researchers can put together a therapeutic antibody pipeline very quickly for other infections and the next big outbreak,” said Jameel, who is not associated with the research.</p>
<p>Indian scientists have discovered a new monoclonal antibody against Covid-19 that gives protection against five Variants of Concerns of SARS-CoV-2, and five sub-lineages of the highly infectious Omicron that continues to infect a few thousand Indians daily.</p>.<p>Besides opening up a new treatment window against Covid-19, the discovery may help scientists design new vaccine candidates and create antibodies against possible new variants of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other new infections.</p>.<p>This is because the new antibody targets a unique portion of the virus that is highly conserved across a diverse spectrum of the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. In other words, this part of the pathogen has hardly changed even as the virus kept mutating.</p>.<p>Monoclonal antibody is a new class of therapy besides drugs and vaccines. It is an antibody (protein) produced from a cell line made by cloning a unique white blood cell.</p>.<p>"Unlike other monoclonal antibodies that target the (virus) areas that are hotspot for mutation, our monoclonal antibody attacks the proteins that remain same across SARS-CoV2 variants,” Anmol Chandele, a senior scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, here and lead investigator of the project told DH.</p>.<p>Since it targets a highly conserved area on the outer surface of the receptor binding domain of the virus, the antibody is broad-spectrum, killing all the known problematic variants in laboratory studies.</p>.<p>Chandele and her collaborators from ICMR’s National Institute of Malaria Research and Emory Vaccine Centre, Atlanta tested the human monoclonal antibody against several SARS-CoV-2 variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and the recently emerging and highly infectious Omicron sub-lineages such as BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12, BA.4 and BA.5 and found that it maintains its neutralization potency against all these variants of concern.</p>.<p>Omicron and its sub lineages can evade natural and vaccine-generated immunity and pose a threat to immune-compromised, vaccine-hesitant, and unvaccinated adults and children.</p>.<p>However, only two of the currently approved therapeutic antibodies have shown neutralization potential to Omicron — sotrovimab and bebtelovimab. The second one is prescribed in the US</p>.<p>Explaining the molecular structure of the new antibody (named 002-S21F2) in a study published in Science Advances, the scientists said it had tremendous potential to treat Covid-19 patients.</p>.<p>ICMR, ICGEB, Department of Biotechnology and Emory jointly hold the patent on the new antibody, derived from Covid-19 recovered Indian patients. Since it is derived from humans, there is no issue on tolerance.</p>.<p>Chandele said new and better quality vaccines could be designed using the new antibody and the scientific information that came up. Concurs virologist Shahid Jameel, a former ICGEB scientist who currently is a Research Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.</p>.<p>“It’s too late for this to work as a Covid-19 therapeutic, but it can inform on making a broadly effective vaccine. It also shows that Indian researchers can put together a therapeutic antibody pipeline very quickly for other infections and the next big outbreak,” said Jameel, who is not associated with the research.</p>
