Neutralizing antibody. Provided by Seoul National University Hospital
People who do not have a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) also have an immune gene that neutralizes the corona, and it has been confirmed that the cured people have the same gene.
Seoul National University joint research team research release
The joint research team of Seoul National University Hospital (Professor Myung-don Oh and Wan-beom Park of the Department of Infectious Medicine) and Seoul National University (Professor Sangil Kim and Joonho Jeong in the Department of Biochemistry, and Professor Jinseong Roh and Sung-Hoon Kwon of the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering) released a paper on the 1st that analyzed the genetic characteristics related to Corona 19.
The researchers found that 6 out of 10 people who were not infected with corona already had immune cells that produced neutralizing antibodies that fight the corona virus.
The research team also confirmed neutralizing antibodies in 13 out of 16 patients who were diagnosed and treated at Seoul National University Hospital, and confirmed that the genes of the immune cells that caused them to produce were consistent with those of 6 non-infected individuals. It means that our bodies already have genes to fight corona and win.
Professor Park Wan-beom, who led the study, said, “If a non-infected person already has immune cells that make neutralizing antibodies, they can make neutralizing antibodies much faster when coronavirus invades. When the virus penetrates, immune cells differentiate and mutate to make antibodies,” “It usually takes 2 weeks to 1 month, but about half of 13 patients had neutralizing antibodies in 1 week. It’s very fast.”
Professor Park said, “The reason why neutralizing antibodies were produced so quickly is probably because they already had related genes before infection.” He said, “It has not been confirmed how many of the 13 people had immune cells from the past.”
Sas or MERS says that non-infected individuals do not have immune cells that make antibodies.
Professor Park said, “If a non-infected person has immune cells that make neutralizing antibodies, the vaccine may be more effective because the antibody comes out immediately even if you slightly touch these immune cells. It is more efficient than creating neutralizing antibodies by creating new immune cells. I mean,” he said.
Professor Park said, “This discovery can explain the phenomenon that neutralizing antibodies are produced faster than other viruses in Corona 19 infection. The presence and characteristics of covalent neutralizing antibodies are effective vaccines when a pandemic similar to Corona 19 occurs in the future. It will be able to help in the development of anti-antibody treatments,” he added.
Professor Oh Myung-don said, “We don’t know from when, but we have immune cells that respond to viruses in our bodies, and the gene composition may be the same. We don’t know if we were born with that gene and passed down from generation to generation.”
The results of this study were published in the latest issue of’Science Translational Medicine’, a global journal of mediation. It was carried out with the support of the Korea Research Foundation’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Communication’s original technology development project, global R&D infrastructure construction project, leader researcher support project and BK21 plus.
Reporter Shin Seong-sik [email protected]