HomeHealth CareResearchers identified antibody “S2X324” in humans was largely unaffected Omicron strains

Researchers identified antibody “S2X324” in humans was largely unaffected Omicron strains

Researchers identified a pan-variant neutralizing antibody called S2X324 in humans whose neutralizing ability was largely unaffected by any of the Omicron strains of the coronavirus, according to the study. The researchers show that this monoclonal antibody prevents binding to a receptor on host cells that the pandemic coronavirus typically controls. They also suggested that combining this antibody with others in a cocktail could reduce the chances of the virus becoming resistant to antibody treatment.

An international team from the University of Washington and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Humabs BioMed SA of Vir Biotechnology in Switzerland investigated several aspects of the effects of exposure to earlier forms of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen — or immune-provoking protein — on the immune system’s response to Omicron variants.

Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appeared at the end of 2021 and have significant genetic differences from the original SARS-CoV-2. Many different mutations in their infectious machinery allowed them to escape the antibodies raised by the original series of vaccines, the history of infection, or both of these two training actions of the immune system.

Past studies by the same team noted that the BA.1 Omicron variant emerged as a “major antigenic shift due to the unprecedented extent of immune escape associated with this variant of concern,” according to the study.They explained that mutations in the two main antibody targets in the virus explain why the neutralizing ability of antibodies against these variants is greatly reduced, especially in people who have not received boosters.

“As a result, there is an increasing number of reinfections,” the researchers wrote in their paper, “although these cases tend to be milder than in infections in immunologically naïve individuals”.

They noted that the escape ability conferred by the mutations also helps explain why most monoclonal antibody therapies given to patients in the clinic are less effective against these variants. Knowing how well vaccination against one strain of SARS-CoV-2 (with or without previous infection) works against infection with another strain is a crucial research question. The answers could guide strategies to continue containing the COVID-19 pandemic, even if the coronavirus reasserts itself.

Through their experiments, the researchers found that vaccine boosters and hybrid immunity, or immunity acquired through infection and a history of vaccination, induce neutralizing antibodies in the bloodstream against Omicron BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, and BA. 0.4/5. People who had a breakthrough infection after vaccination also produced neutralizing antibodies against these variants in the mucus that lined the inside of their noses. However, people who received only the vaccine did not develop antibodies in the nasal mucosa. The finding supports efforts to develop and evaluate next-generation COVID vaccines that could be administered intranasally, since the nose is generally where the virus first enters the body.

The researchers also found that antibody responses to the pandemic coronavirus follow a pattern similar to how the immune system responds to variations of the flu virus. This phenomenon is called immune imprinting. Immune imprinting means that the immune response favors the induction of existing memory B cells specific against parts of the virus present in the strain to which the individual was previously exposed, rather than the priming of new memory B cells targeting differences present in distinctly different strains after infection. While this can be useful in stimulating an attack across variants, the researchers explain that previous exposure to earlier versions of the virus can sometimes prevent a more specific response against a virus that has mutated significantly.

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