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capable of binding to the Covid-19 virus. The nanobodies were then combined together into chains of three to increase their ability to bind to the virus and then produced in cells in the laboratory.
Fifi was reported as having no ill-effects such as sickness during the procedure.
The team found three nanobody chains were able to neutralise both the original variants of the Covid-19 virus and the Alpha variant that was first identified in Kent, UK. A fourth nanobody chain was able to neutralise the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.
“Because we can see every atom of the nanobody bound to the spike, we understand what makes these agents so special,” said Professor James Naismith, Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, who helped lead the research. “While vaccines have proven extraordinarily successful, not everyone responds to vaccination and immunity can wane in individuals at different times.”
“Having medications that can treat the virus is still going to be very important, particularly as not all of the world is being vaccinated at the same speed and there remains a risk of new variants capable of bypassing vaccine immunity emerging.” If successful and approved, nanobodies could provide an important treatment around the world, being easier to produce than human antibodies and which don’t need to be stored in cold storage facilities, added Professor Naismith.
Credit Rosalind Franklin Institute
“These are among the most effective SARS-CoV-2 neutralising agents we have ever tested at PHE. We believe the unique structure and strength of the nanobodies contribute to their significant potential for both the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and look forward to working collaboratively to progress this work into clinical studies.”
Dr Andrew Bourne, Director of Partnerships at EPSRC, said:
“Utilising the unique properties of llamas’ nanobodies, this research could lead to an important new form of treatment for Covid-19 that is cheaper to produce and easier to administer.
“It is a vivid illustration of the impact that long-term discovery research at the cutting edge of physical and life sciences, as undertaken at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, can have.”
Professor James Stewart, co-author and Professor of molecular virology at the University of Liverpool said: “The pre-clinical trials of the nanobodies in hamsters are extremely encouraging and suggest that they may be effective at treating COVID-19 disease as well as help prevent infection. Having therapies such as this will be important for populations that are either unvaccinated or where vaccination is inappropriate or ineffective.”
Credit Rosalind Franklin Institute Funding needed to progress further
The research team, which included scientists at the University of Liverpool, University of Oxford and Public Health England, now hope to obtain funding so they can conduct further research needed to prepare for clinical studies in humans.
Professor Miles Carroll, Deputy Director of the National Infection Service, Public Health England (PHE), said: “Although this research is still at an early stage, it opens up significant possibilities for the use of effective nanobody treatments for COVID-19.
The researchers, who were funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Medical Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, The EPA Cephalosporin Fund and Wellcome, also hope the nanobody technology they have developed could form a so- called ‘platform technology’ that can be rapidly adapted to fight other diseases.
“When a new virus emerges in the future, the generic technology we have developed could respond to that, which would be important in terms of producing new treatments as quickly as possible,” said Professor Owens.
Findings are published in Nature Communication More information online:
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www.labmate-online.com/articles Will current plans to protect against Covid-related infections be adequate?
“Without regular antibody testing in the community, we can’t identify those people who never developed antibodies at all after vaccination, or those people who have already lost their antibodies.” Quinton Fivelman
As the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures reveal that Covid-related deaths are continuing to rise, Dr Quinton Fivelman PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at London Medical Laboratory, has argued that without the introduction of comprehensive antibody testing the Government may have to resort to an alternative plan than those already outlined for containing the spread of the virus this winter. “There’s no significant decrease in the number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and deaths from the virus are now at their highest level since March. Even with the Government’s new Plan A in place and ‘last resort’ Plan B waiting in the wings, this may well not be enough,” Dr Fivelman said. Without introducing comprehensive antibody testing, in conjunction with new monoclonal treatments, he added, the Government may swiftly have to produce its ‘Plan C’, even though it denies the existence of one.
“I would suggest that Plan C actually does exist in a locked Whitehall cupboard somewhere, perhaps behind a sign saying: “In case of escalating emergency break glass”. Such a plan is likely to involve a firebreak, perhaps with an extension to the October half term, mandatory mask wearing in public places, a return to social distancing and a limit on gatherings in homes and indoor public places,” Dr Fivelman continued. “The best way to avoid finding out if Plan C exists or not, is to increase antibody testing. Without regular antibody testing in the community, we can’t identify those people who never developed antibodies at all after vaccination, or those people who have already lost their antibodies.” According to Dr Fivelman, the private medical company’s research had revealed that 1 in
100 fully vaccinated people fail to develop any antibodies at all after vaccination. “That means that, even if every UK adult is vaccinated, half a million adults will have no protection whatsoever, and not even realise. Identifying those people is crucial. Of equal concern, its recent tests also found that a growing number of people who have been jabbed now have lower values (50 to 500AU/ml) of antibodies. The lower scores of those tested could be an indication that their antibody levels may have significantly declined over time and they may be more susceptible to the virus as time passes. “We need to increase the number of IgG (immunoglobulin G) antibody tests being carried out and a shared database needs to be created so information from Government and private labs can be bought together. That’s because antibody testing can avert the imposition of a return to lockdowns, when used in conjunction with new immune-boosting drugs designed to protect patients who fail to respond to the Covid vaccine or rapidly lose immunity. These new supplementary drugs contain monoclonal antibodies and are already in use in America, Europe and Asia. ‘The UK’s drug regulator has already approved the first monoclonal antibody treatment – Ronapreve – for the treatment and prevention of acute Covid-19 in adults. The treatment binds to two different sites on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, neutralising the virus’s ability to infect cells,” he added.
The test can be purchased by those who don’t qualify for the Government’s new limited testing programme, Dr Fivelman said.
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LABMATE UK & IRELAND - NOVEMBER 2021
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