Antibodies

Thoughts

• Antibodies are blood proteins that kill cellular intruders (disease) - [1]
• How do you culture antibodies? Via hybridomas - [2]
• Once a hybridoma is produced, say for the COVID spike protein - then is mass production of it distributatable via basic DIY bio?
• Are monoclonal antibodies safe? They naturally have to be tested, just like anything else. [3]
• Once a hybridoma is available, does it produce reliable results? There is a process - [4]
• It is not known how well antibodies provide immunity, or heal the sick. [5]. Immunity is likely - but healing would be the more important short term for preventing death. Because antibodies only last up to a month.

Companies Working on It

• GigaGen - [6] - uses single-cell sequencing to “capture and recreate” whole libraries of antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients. The company can then choose which of those antibodies to turn into recombinant polyclonal antibody treatments
• Regeneron - All coronaviruses have a cell surface protein called the spike protein. It helps the virus binds to the host cell for an infection. Regeneron’s SARS-CoV-2 antibodies will target the spike protein in an attempt to block the interaction of the virus with the host. - [7]
• Scripps - one antibody is CR3022. [8]

Definitions

• Antigen. [9] - ex: a virus.
• Recombinant DNA - genetic engineering of DNA that does not yet exist in nature - [10]
• Recombinant antibodies - [ecombinant antibodies are produced in vitro by cloning antibody genes for immune-specific heavy and light antibody chains into high-yield expression vectors - [11]
• Serological (antibody) vs PCR tests for COVID - [12]
• Convalescent serum - antibody-rich serum from blood of recovered patients - [13]. But convalescent sera are more effective for preventing disease rather than for treating disease. [14]. As an example, passive antibody therapy for pneumococcal pneumonia was most effective when administered shortly after the onset of symptoms, and there was no benefit if antibody administration was delayed past the third day of disease.
• Prophylaxis - prevention. [15]