Reporter : Guo Yang / Publisher : XinhuaNet via ScienceNet
Ref : http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/8/444499.shtm
Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
Recently, the scientific community has placed high hopes on the role of monoclonal antibodies in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 (covi, in short) infections. Some experts even believe that monoclonal antibody therapy may precede vaccines and play an important role in containing pandemic.
So, what exactly is a monoclonal antibody, and how does it play a role in preventing and treating covid?
There is no specific medicine for covi infection. One of the most effective treatment ideas in practice is plasma therapy, that is, the plasma of recovered patients from the new crown is extracted and injected into the infected patients. There are antibodies in the plasma of recovered patients that can recognize covi, which can fight the virus in the infected person but this therapy is difficult to apply on a large scale. So scientists considered identifying specific antibodies in the plasma of recovered patients that can effectively neutralize covi, and then mass-produce this antibody by cloning a single cell, which is called a monoclonal antibody.
Monoclonal antibodies are also called "biological missiles", which can accurately identify and destroy pathogenic antigens like missiles. Prior to this, related technologies have played an important role in disease diagnosis, anti-infection and anti-tumour. Nowadays, monoclonal antibodies are also regarded as one of the most promising options for the prevention and treatment of covi infections, and many scientific research institutions around the world are actively promoting related research.
The recombinant fully human anti-covi monoclonal antibody injection jointly developed by the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Junshi Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. was announced in June to enter a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Academician Chen Wei of the Academy of Military Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences and other researchers published a paper online in the American journal Science in June, saying that they have discovered the first highly effective neutralizing monoclonal antibody targeting the N-terminal domain of the covi spike protein. This provides a new effective target for the development of covi drugs.
According to British media reports in July, the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plans to start a clinical trial of an antibody therapy and proposed that it hopes that a 3-minute monoclonal antibody injection can prevent covi infections for up to 6 months.
The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced on August 3 the initiation of a phase 3 clinical trial of a new crown antibody therapy to verify whether a monoclonal antibody it developed against the viral spike protein can effectively prevent covi infection. The antibody, named LY-CoV555, was isolated from a blood sample from an early covid recovery patient in the United States. In addition, the anti-coronavirus "cocktail" therapy developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., which consists of multiple monoclonal antibodies, has also begun clinical trials.
The US "Science" magazine website recently published an article that the progress of clinical trials of monoclonal antibodies that can prevent and treat covi infections may be faster than the progress of covi vaccine-related trials. According to Eli Lilly’s Vice President Ajay Nilullah, monoclonal antibodies are expected to play a "bridge" role before the advent of the covi vaccine.
The article also believes that monoclonal antibodies may be more effective than remdesivir, dexamethasone and other drugs that help treat SARS-CoV-2. It can not only be used to protect front-line medical staff from infection, but also can be used to reduce the severity of covid in hospitalized patients. Dennis Burton, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute in the United States, is optimistic that he believes that a single injection of monoclonal antibodies is sufficient to protect people from covi infection for several months.
Although both have protective effects, the mechanism of action of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies is different. To put it simply, vaccines are antigens, and their role is to stimulate the body to produce immunity for prevention. This is a kind of active immunity; while direct infusion of antibodies belongs to passive immunity, which allows the body to gain immunity immediately, but it usually lasts longer. Short, generally used for treatment or emergency prevention in special circumstances.
In addition, the use of monoclonal antibodies to treat covi also faces cost challenges. Seth Berkeley, CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, said: “The price of this therapy is unlikely to drop to a globally affordable level in the near future.” Therefore, how to improve the method to reduce monoclonal antibodies, production cost is also a problem that needs to be solved at this stage.
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