In a recent study, an international team of scientists identified antibodies that can neutralize omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants.

These antibodies target areas of the viral spike protein, which remain essentially unchanged when the virus mutates. The results of the study were published in the journal Nature.

David Veesler said that by identifying the targets of these “broadly neutralizing” antibodies on the spike protein, it is possible to design vaccines and antibody treatments that are effective not only for the omicron variant but also for other variants that may appear in the future. Researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

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“This discovery tells us that by focusing on antibodies against these highly conserved sites on the spike protein, there is a way to overcome the continuous evolution of the virus,” Wesseler said. Vir Biotechnology, in Switzerland. The lead authors of the study are Elisabetta Cameroni and Christian Saliba (Humabs), John E. Bowen (University of Washington Biochemistry) and Laura Rosen (Vir).

The omicron variant has 37 mutations in the spike protein, which is used to lock and invade cells. This is an unusually large number of mutations. It is believed that these changes partly explain why the variant can spread so quickly, thereby infecting people who have been vaccinated and reinfecting people who were previously infected.

“The main question we are trying to answer is: How does this series of mutations in the spike protein of the omicron variant affect its ability to bind to cells and evade immune system antibody responses,” Veesler said. Veesler and his colleagues speculate that a large number of omicron mutations may have accumulated during long-term infection in people with weakened immune systems, or accumulated during the spread of the virus from humans to animal species and then back. ]

To assess the impact of these mutations, the researchers designed a disabling, non-replicating virus called a pseudovirus, which produces spike proteins on its surface, just like a coronavirus. They then created pseudoviruses with spike proteins with omicron mutations, as well as those found in the earliest variants found in the pandemic.

The researchers first observed how different versions of the spike protein bind to the protein on the cell surface, which the virus uses to attach and enter the cell. This protein is called the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor.

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