Researchers find antibody that blocks infection by covid in cell

Researchers have identified a fully human monoclonal antibody that prevents the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus from infecting cultured cells.

The discovery, detailed in the journal Nature Communications, is an initial step towards developing a fully human antibody to treat or prevent the respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly across the globe infecting more than 3.3 million people worldwide and killing more than 235,000 people so far.

This research from Utrecht University, Erasmus Medical Center and Harbour BioMed (HBM) builds on the work they have done in the past on antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV that emerged in 2002/2003.

“Using this collection of SARS-CoV antibodies, we identified an antibody that also neutralizes infection of SARS-CoV-2 in cultured cells,” said study co-lead author Berend-Jan Bosch, Associate Professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

“Such a neutralising antibody has the potential to alter the course of infection in the infected host, support virus clearance or protect an uninfected individual that is exposed to the virus,” Bosch added.

The researchers noted that the antibody binds to a domain that is conserved in both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, explaining its ability to neutralize both viruses.

This cross-neutralising feature of the antibody is very interesting and suggests it may have potential in mitigation of diseases caused by future-emerging related coronaviruses, Bosch said.

This discovery provides a strong foundation for additional research to characterise this antibody and begins development as a potential COVID-19 treatment.

“The antibody used in this work is ‘fully human,’ allowing development to proceed more rapidly and reducing the potential for immune-related side effects,” said study co-author Frank Grosveld.

Conventional therapeutic antibodies are first developed in other species and then must undergo additional work to ‘humanize’ them, according to the researchers.

The antibody was generated using Harbour BioMed’s H2L2 transgenic mouse technology.

“This is groundbreaking research. Much more work is needed to assess whether this antibody can protect or reduce the severity of disease in humans,” said Dr Jingsong Wang, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Harbour BioMed.

“We expect to advance the development of the antibody with partners. We believe our technology can contribute to addressing this most urgent public health need and we are pursuing several other research avenues,” Wang noted.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

In vitro cell culture findings could lead to novel interventions for schizophrenia

A study recently  has shown how using cultured cells from patients with psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, to investigate abnormalities in nerve connections in the brain could lead to new treatments. Strong correlations were observed between the findings in the cells in culture—grown outside the body in a controlled environment—and findings from brain imaging performed on the very same human participants. 

"The findings are important, because if the health of cells in culture reflects the health of the same cells in a human brain, we may be able to create a better model for studying psychotic disorders," said the study's senior author. He said such a model could give researchers a greater capacity to find genetic and biochemical targets in the brain. Using these targets, he said, "could enable us to develop novel and more effective interventions for psychotic disorders."

For their work, the team  drew on studies showing that altered pathways of brain development can be found across most cases of schizophrenia and that inaccurate connections and "leaks" in signaling between nerve cells are a feature of many psychotic disorders. A substance called myelin, produced by cells called oligodendrocytes, serves as a kind of insulation to prevent these leaks. In studies , myelin was measured and found to be reduced in the brain in patients with schizophrenias.

Based on this prior research, the researchers drew on a repository of cell lines they had obtained from patients with psychiatric disorders. These samples were reprogrammed from skin cells into brain-like cells in the laboratory. The reprogrammed cell lines, taken from both ill and healthy patients, produced nerve cells and support cells called glia, including oligodendrocytes, in laboratory cultures. Investigations into these cells revealed significant abnormalities in the development of oligodendrocytes grown from subjects with psychotic disorders.

The research also revealed a strong correlation between the number of oligodendrocytes in culture and the amount of myelin made by these cells in the brains of the same subjects who provided the cells. This finding, Cohen explained, "means that we can now study the causes of the abnormality of myelin that we have observed in living brain tissue in a laboratory setting."

For the researchers, the prospect of using lab cultures to examine differences in the brains of individuals with psychotic illnesses is "an exciting development." For example, the Prof. said, researchers have observed that not all genes and proteins necessary to make oligodendrocytes are affected in these cells, and they can now begin to identify exactly what genes and proteins are different in these cells. It would be impossible, he said, to do these detailed studies in living brain tissue.

Such studies, the researchers believe, could lead to better treatment approaches for individuals with psychotic conditions. "Using in vitro cell cultures to study these abnormalities could help us identify specific genetic and biochemical targets that might be addressed by novel drug treatments, cell transplantation, or other interventions," the Prof. said.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                                                             https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                       FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com