Studies from the UK and US have shown how antibodies are being used against some of the world’s most challenging health problems – antimicrobial resistance and Covid-19.
Antibodies are produced by immune cells and bind to specific proteins that are foreign to the body, such as those from bacteria and viruses, allowing harmful agents to be eliminated as part of the body’s immune response.
In a study, led by the University of Cambridge, researchers used genetically modified mice to produce human antibodies instead of mouse antibodies, in order to develop a treatment to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The team exposed the mice to Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria, which are linked to hospital-acquired infections that have developed resistance to almost all antibiotics.
By triggering the animals’ immune response, the researchers then identified the antibodies that were most effective at recognising the bacteria, before isolating and cloning the best one in the lab – known as monoclonal antibodies.
These monoclonal antibodies were able to significantly reduce the amount of A. baumannii in the lungs of mice that were exposed to the bacteria, compared to mice not given this treatment.
Meanwhile, a US study led by the University of Texas at Austin has developed a monoclonal antibody, derived from a patient with Covid-19.
The antibody, SC27, was able to recognise and bind to the spike proteins of all known variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the lab and in mice, preventing the virus from infecting cells – spike proteins allow these viruses to penetrate host cells and cause infection.
This raises the possibility of a broad antibody treatment for Covid-19 and other related coronaviruses.
See also the EARA feature on antibodies.