Bioscience News - GEG Tech top picks

EPFL scientists have developed a chemical method for targeting the effects of cancer-fighting immunotherapy drugs only to the tumor tissue, making the drugs less toxic to the rest of the human body.

The recent emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 in the UK11 and B.1.351 in South Africa12 is of concern because of their purported ease of transmission and extensive mutations in the spike protein. This study reports that B.1.1.7 is refractory to neutralization by most mAbs to the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike and relatively resistant to a few mAbs to the receptor-binding domain (RBD). It is not more resistant to convalescent plasma or vaccinee sera. Findings on B.1.351 are more worrisome in that this variant is not only refractory to neutralization by most NTD mAbs but also by multiple individual mAbs to the receptor-binding motif on RBD, largely owing to an E484K mutation. Moreover, B.1.351 is markedly more resistant to neutralization by convalescent plasma (9.4 fold) and vaccinee sera (10.3-12.4 fold). B.1.351 and emergent variants13,14 with similar spike mutations present new challenges for mAb therapy and threaten the protective efficacy of current vaccines.

The results of this study show that immunization of cows may provide an avenue to rapidly generate antibody prophylactics and therapeutics to address disease agents that have evolved to avoid human antibody responses.

A single infusion of antibodies can protect monkeys from infection with a virus that is similar to HIV for nearly six months.

The finding provides further evidence that antibodies — specialized proteins that the body produces to fight infections — could one day be used as a method to prevent people from becoming infected with HIV.

A new study published by researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine in the medical journal Nature Medicine conclued that convalescent plasma did not reduce the risk of intubation or death at 30 d in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Transfusion of convalescent plasma with unfavorable antibody profiles could be associated with worse clinical outcomes compared to standard care.

Understanding immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 is critical for improving diagnostics and vaccines, and for assessing the likely future course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists analyzed multiple compartments of circulating immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 in 254 samples from 188 COVID-19 cases, including 43 samples at ≥ 6 months post-infection. IgG to the Spike protein was relatively stable over 6+ months. Spike-specific memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months than at 1 month post symptom onset. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells declined with a half-life of 3-5 months. By studying antibody, memory B cell, CD4+ T cell, and CD8+ T cell memory to SARS-CoV-2 in an integrated manner, they observed that each component of SARS-CoV-2 immune memory exhibited distinct kinetics.

Inserm Unit U919, directed by Prof. Denis Vivien ("Serine Proteases and Physiopathology of the Neurovascular Unit") has developed an antibody with potential therapeutic effects against multiple sclerosis. The study, directed by Fabian Docagne and published in Brain, paves the way for a new strategy to control the disease.