Scientists Find New Possible Weapon Against COVID-19 In Synthetic Nano-Bodies
Scientists from EMBL Hamburg have identified synthetic mini-antibodies which can potentially be used to battle against COVID-19. The group led by Dr Christian Low has found a new method to block the SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells. The method makes use of synthetic nanobodies called sybodies that prevent the virus from binding onto the human cells and hence from getting a person infected with the virus.
As scientists across the world are working towards the perfect measure against COVID-19, a new candidate has now come into limelight.
A team of scientists from EMBL Hamburg have now identified synthetic mini-antibodies which can potentially be used to battle against COVID-19.
(Representative Image: Reuters)
The group, led by Dr Christian Low, has found a new method to block the SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells. Now published in Nature Communications, The method makes use of synthetic nanobodies, called sybodies, that prevent the virus from binding onto the human cells and hence from getting a person infected with the virus.
The project was first started during the COVID-19 lockdown, as soon as the team of scientists received EMBL approval to reopen their laboratories. Within a few weeks, the team was able to select the sybodies candidate and perform its analyses.
¡°Getting the results so quickly was only possible because the methodologies we used had already been established for other research projects unrelated to SARS-CoV-2. Developing these tools would have taken significantly more time and resources,¡± said Low in a release.
The science behind it
Sybodies are the synthetic replicas of nanobodies, small antibodies found in camels and llamas, explains an ANI report. These antibodies are effective against viruses due to their high stability and small size.
With technological advances, scientists have now found a way for the rapid selection of synthetic nanobodies or sybodies. The study used a recently developed technology platform to select sybodies from large synthetic libraries. The platform has been developed in the lab of Markus Seeger at the University of Zurich.
The sybodies are able to block the receptor-binding domains or RBDs of the virus. These RBDs are three finger-like protrusions on the viral spike protein that attaches it to the human cell surface protein ACE2.
(Representative Image: Reuters)
Sybodies thus have the potential to stop the virus from entering human cells altogether. Knowing this, the team of scientists started looking for the sybody against SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers searched through the existing libraries of sybodies, looking for a candidate that bound to the viral spike protein¡¯s RBDs and was stable and effective in doing so. A candidate named sybody 23 was among the best binders and turned out to be particularly effective in blocking the RBDs.
The sybody candidate was then tested for its ability by using it against lentivirus, a different virus modified with SARS-CoV-2¡¯s spike protein on its surface. It was observed that sybody 23 successfully disabled the modified virus in vitro. Additional tests are yet needed to confirm if this sybody can stop SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human body.
