Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : June 3, 2022 1:01 PM IST
Experts Say Shark Antibody Can Stop COVID-19
The existence of sharks' dates back to 420 million years ago predating the existence of humanity, Mount Everest and also trees. Sharks are known as ancient predators with an immune system that dates back to prehistoric times. It has been found out that over the years through evolution, sharks have developed an immune system, which is now considered as the oldest. Recent study says that this unique immune system could be the key to develop an effective COVID-19 treatment.
Researchers have showed by using the Advanced Photon Source's (APS) extremely bright X-ray beams, that the variable new antigen receptors (VNARs), which are the smallest unit of a shark antibody, can stop SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 and its variants.
Professors Aaron LeBeau of the University of Wisconsin and Hideki Aihara of the University of Minnesota explained how an antibody works on a human. An antibody, be it of a shark or humans works in a similar fashion. It binds to a virus protein when a region of molecules called amino acids encounters a similar region on the virus protein. In human body, these antibodies bind one flat surface to another only. But the sharks VNARs have been studied to access the pockets in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that cannot be controlled by human antibodies. The VNARs molecular is higher than that of humans and that is why it is capable of working on a COVID-19 infected human body.
The shark VNARs proved highly stable, as effective as or better than current treatments for COVID, and resilient to the changing structures of variants. This may help in the development of new treatments for SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Delta and Omicron. According to experts, this therapy will not be a replacement for vaccination, but it would be a very crucial tool for patients who are critical. The VNARs also showed promise as therapeutics for other known beta coronaviruses and future emergent diseases.
