By Pranav Prabhu
In December 2019, on a rather mediocre morning, I decided to go through the newspaper as I had my breakfast. There on Page 1 in a rather small box in the corner of the page I saw “New Virus Outbreak in China”. Like almost everyone else I raised my eyebrows in interest and then flipped the page to the sports section. Little did the world know that this tiny devil would be headlining each and every newspaper for the next 2 whole years.
When we ask ourselves why COVID-19 was so deadly, we get answers such as: no cure or vaccine was available, it spread fast and quick, it could spread from one host to another before symptoms showed up, etc. However, COVID is still very much present and the main reason is its ability to mutate so quickly. Within a span of a year, we already had 3-4 variants of major concern. Each variant brought a newer and deadlier wave that killed several people all around the world and caused nothing short of chaos calamity. The economic state of superpowers was in shatters. The social state of the world was pitiable. The physical health of the population was endangered and the mental health of many was mocked. If only we had a vaccine that could deal with all the variants: current and future! Seems impossible right? Not anymore.
Scientists at the Scripps Research University have identified antibodies that are effective against many different SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as other SARS viruses like SARS-CoV-1. The research findings were published in the Science Translational Medicine on August 10th 2022 and they outlined the antibody structures that provide this wonder immunity against all variants. Sounds impossible right? I mean I myself find it difficult to believe since I learned that antibodies have a specific shape and can only attach to one antigen! However, this antibody structure looks for a viral spike that is present in most SARS viruses. Thus, when neutralized, the virus is less likely to mutate which reduces risk against emerging variants. If we can emulate such antibody structures, we can develop next generation vaccines. People will require lesser number of booster vaccines and countries can massively reduce their expenditure on healthcare during a future outbreak or new wave!
To brush over the specifics for my fellow discovery nerds, the study was done on Rhesus macaque monkeys. They were immunized with the SARS-2 spike protein which infected their host cells. The shots emulated those given to humans (2 shots) and the result was that the monkeys were shown to have a broad neutralizing antibody response. With more detailed research, the scientists discovered how the antibody really worked and were amazed. It is important to acknowledge that the monkey's dominant gene for immune response is not the same as the dominant gene for immune response in humans. However, the scientists are optimistic as the concept of broad vaccination opens doors to mechanically designing and engineering vaccines. Seems far-fetched? Scientists have been using machines to synthesize entirely new proteins or to synthesize existing proteins from nothing but a theoretical code entered in the machine. Not very far-fetched now, is it?
We can only hope that this discovery leads to something revolutionary. Until that time, all we can do is wear our masks and take necessary safety precautions.
If you want to read more about this discovery you can visit: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220810161043.htm
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