the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in a study published July 14 in Nature, researchers describe a newly discovered “super antibody” capable of protecting against SARS-CoV-2 and a group of related coronaviruses, called sarbecoviruses. The antibody, named S2H97, is believed to work by attaching to a section of the ACE2 receptor binding motif on the virus spike protein that is only exposed when a sarbecovirus is attempting to enter a cell. S2H97 was able to prevent the spread of multiple sarbecoviruses between cells in a lab, and the antibody also protected hamsters from infection with SARS-CoV-2 isolated from the initial Wuhan, China, outbreak. Researchers further described the antibody as a pan-sarbecovirus due to its broad efficacy across the sarbecovirus subgenus. The description of a usually hidden antibody binding region in the ACE2 RBM is important because it could be used as a target for future vaccines and therapeutics. Additionally, a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine could be used to prevent outbreaks from as-of-yet-undiscovered members of the Coronaviridae family of viruses.