The Chinese team has discovered a human monoclonal antibody that can block the infection of the new coronavirus!

The Chinese scientific research team recently published a paper online in the United States "Science" magazine that they found two human monoclonal antibodies that can effectively block the infection of the new coronavirus, which is expected to be used in the development of anti-new crown drugs and vaccines.

Many units including the Capital Medical University of China, the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen participated in this study.

The researchers isolated four human monoclonal antibodies from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a newly rehabilitated patient.

Experiments show that these four antibodies have the ability to neutralize the new coronavirus. Among them, two antibodies called B38 and H4, respectively, can block the binding of the receptor binding domain of the new crown virus spike protein and its receptor "Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2)".

A number of previous studies that revealed the infection mechanism of the new coronavirus have shown that the virus mainly achieves infection through the binding of its spike protein receptor binding domain to ACE2 on human cells.

Experiments have shown that B38 and H4 respectively recognize different epitopes of the receptor binding domain. Mouse experiments confirmed that these two antibodies can reduce the amount of virus infecting the lungs of mice, showing a therapeutic effect. The two antibodies can also be used in combination to more effectively suppress viral infections.

The research team further analyzed the structure of the complex formed by the new crown virus spike protein receptor binding region and B38, thus revealing the molecular mechanism of B38 blocking viral infection.

Researcher Introduction

The latest research shows that the two antibodies screened have the potential to be further developed into new coronavirus infection drugs, and provide a basis for vaccine design. At present, the two antibodies have been transformed into products by related companies, and are expected to be used for clinical treatment of patients with new crowns in the future.