Posted on 09/14/2020 9:29:39 PM PDT by bitt
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have isolated the biomolecule
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have isolated “the smallest biological molecule” that “completely and specifically neutralizes” SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the novel coronavirus.
The antibody component is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, and has been used to create the drug Ab8, shared in the report published by the researchers in the journal Cell on Monday. The drug is seen as a potential preventative against SARS-CoV-2.
According to the report, the drug has been “highly effective in preventing and treating” the SARS-CoV-2 infections in mice and hamsters during tests. The drug also reportedly does not bind to human cells, which suggests it will not have negative side-effects in people.
“Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for COVID-19, but it also could be used to keep people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections,” said co-author John Mellors, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Pitt and UPMC. “Antibodies of larger size have worked against other infectious diseases and have been well tolerated, giving us hope that it could be an effective treatment for patients with COVID-19 and for protection of those who have never had the infection and are not immune.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Give it 10 years of rigorous testing, and I MIGHT consider it.
“does not bind to human cells”
So how does that work? It just floats around in the blood stream forever? Killer cells don’t kill it?
Never herd of small antibody. I believe it is a small part of the antibody molecule called Fab(fragment of antigen binding) that binds to the virus an eventually induced the virus neutralization. It is nothing new. The Fab can be chopped of the antibody molecule by enzymatic treatment.
l8r
Hopefully broad based enough to neutralize the coronavirus pandemic. The main problem is the tendency of the coronavirus, especially CoViD-19, to mutate. It is documented to mutate relatively frequently. For example, the European version of CoViD-19 is a bit different from the American version. The importance of this will become clearer as treatments emerge.
As I said early on, an effective vaccine is going to prove challenging. More expert opinions have been published echoing that difficulty.
Does it do its killing inside the cells where the virus do their reproducing work, or does it hit the virus before it gets into a cell to start reproducing? If it works inside cells, does this small size mean it does NOT need an ionophore to get into infected cells?
There’s a virus that causes a virus? Damn!
Excellent question, the answer will be interesting. Should anyone find out please post it. Thank you!
Hail to Pitt!
Hail to UPMC!
Don’t tell Trump. He will tweet about it and just like that it will stop being effective!!
Assuming it might be effective, and we don’t know that yet, I’m wondering about the cost.
This could be the right path...
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