Antibody Power!

As almost the entire world is aware, we are currently going through a global pandemic. Entire countries are shut down due to the threat of COVID-19, a novel strain of a corona virus that is causing hospitalizations for many at risk groups. With the increase of cases rising exponentially, there is an increase in testing for possible infections as well. However, there is a new potential way to determine if you had contracted COVID-19 and recovered, possibly without even showing symptoms. Testing for antibody response after an initial infection is a possible gateway for the development of drug treatments and vaccines.

When the body is under attack from pathogenic invaders, the human body has an extremely efficient system to identify, mark, and destroy the threat. Our main source of identification and targeting involves protein structures called antibodies, all of which have a unique antigen binding site that allows for a threat-specific response. When we have these immune responses, our levels of different antibodies vary. The antibodies IgM and IgG play a large role in determining what kind of response our body will create to eliminate the threat. When there is only an IgM response, the body has activated a primary response to the threat and actively defending against the threat. When there is both IgM and IgG responses, this indicates the end of an immune response, resulting in a build-up of long term memory that results in our immune system’s memory cells, which allow us to have a more prepared immune response if we encounter the same threat again. However, the presence of only IgG antibodies indicates that the immune response is complete and could very well indicate the immunity of the individual.

Testing to determine if a person has built an immune response to COVID-19 is an excellent way to identify what makes the virus unique and what its possible weaknesses are. In fact, there is already evidence that the antibody CR3022 is present in recovered COVID-19 patients, which is a promising discovery prompting the development of antivirals and possible vaccination. This antibody was previously found in SARs patients and shows cross-reactions with the COVID spike proteins, which quite possibly could be a weakness as it was in the SARs CoV virus. Using antibody responses from already recovered COVID-19 patients is not the final answer to solving this crisis, but it brings us one step closer. Everybody stay safe and be cautious please!