Different approaches have been put into action to come up with a vaccine for the recent virus that has caused havoc. Hence, scientists are looking for passive protection that can help protect against the virus and can be useful for temporary purposes. In the process, scientists have come up with the discovery of an antigen to elicit neutralizing antibody responses. But there is still a question mark regarding how long can these antigens protect us from the virus without the vaccine. Another of the quest is the development of recombinant neutralizing antibodies.
These molecules are chosen by their uniqueness and maybe irreplaceable in protecting people with underlying diseases or senior citizens or even people in the healthcare field as well. They are already being tested to use on a large scale via clinical trials and confer passive immunity in animal models too. Another strategy is to use convalescent plasma therapy from already recovered COVID-19 patients. Synthetic antibody libraries are built on platforms that are adaptable to allow large-scale production of antibodies. It is a very important consideration as the scope of the demand is global; specifically when the therapy needs to be effective and also affordable. The study revolves around a platform that has been found to contain a fully-human germline antibody gene that produces a high yield of antibodies. These antibodies, when linked to a bacteriophage system, create a strong binding with the antigen.
Currently, human serum albumin is produced at an industrial scale within the yeast Pichia Pastoris, which can be adapted to generate neutralizing antibodies for the current or the future scenario. In conclusion, the highest affinity mAb entirely neutralizes a live SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture for four days at a concentration of 6.7 nM, signifying potential therapeutic or prophylactic use.
Ref Link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.27.224089v1