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COVID-19 Antibodies: Here’s How They Protect You From Coronavirus Infection

COVID-19 Antibodies: Here’s How They Protect You From Coronavirus Infection
How Does COVID-19 Antibodies Protect Your Body From Infection

Covid-19 has swept the whole world and the daily cases are still rising. With vaccines available for administration, here's how the vaccines build the antibodies which then help in neutralizing the virus infection.

Written by Satata Karmakar |Updated : May 6, 2021 9:13 AM IST

Coronavirus outbreak has caused a global pandemic and it's more than a year now that the world is reeling under the threat of the deadly virus infection. It was only a few months back that the vaccines to protect the individuals against novel coronavirus were rolled out worldwide. So what do these vaccines do? They help build antibodies in your body that strengthens your immunity and help your body fight the infection. Let's know more about these antibodies and understand how they help protect you from getting the infection.

How Antibodies Neutralise COVID-19 Infection

US researchers have found how antibodies produced in people who effectively fight off SARS-CoV-2 work to neutralize the part of the virus responsible for causing COVID-19 infection.

The team from the University of Texas at Austin analyzed blood plasma samples from four people who recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infections. They found that most of the antibodies circulating in the blood -- on average, about 84 per cent -- target areas of the viral spike protein outside the receptor-binding domain (RBD) -- the most obvious part of the coronavirus's spike protein.

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What Does Antibodies Do In Your Body?

Because the RBD is the part of the spike that attaches directly to human cells and enables the virus to infect them, it was previously assumed to be a primary target of the immune system. "We found these antibodies are painting the entire spike, both the arc and the stalk of the spike protein, which looks a bit like an umbrella," said Greg Ippolito, Associate Professor in UT's Department of Molecular Biosciences. "The immune system sees the entire spike and tries to neutralize it," Ippolito added.

Antibodies Target Spike Protein Of COVID-19 Virus

About 40 per cent of the circulating antibodies target the stalk of the spike protein, called the S2 subunit, which is also a part that the virus does not seem able to change easily, the researchers explained in the paper published in the journal Science.

"That's an advantage our immune system has. It also means our current vaccines are eliciting antibodies targeting that S2 subunit, which are likely providing another layer of protection against the virus," Ippolito said.

The finding will also help design vaccine boosters or next-generation vaccines against variants of concern, and even for developing a vaccine that can protect against future pandemics from other strains of the Coronavirus. "It means we have a strong rationale for developing next-generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines or even a pan-Coronavirus vaccine that targets every strain," Ippolito said.