[ad_1]
Basic research is working hard to find solutions to prevent and treat future viral infections. The answer may lie in modifying our antibodies.
From the Covid-19 crisis started, research has never been so interested in treatments antivirals and in particular a antibody modified. The first uses of antibodies to fight the disease date back to the 1890s. Some scientists used the blood of rabbits that had recovered from the disease. diphtheria Under processing. Only later will it be discovered that, in this blood, the key element at work was the antibodies.
But this type of file therapy it is still practiced today, and clinical tests took place as part of the COVID-19. Unfortunately, the results did not live up to expectations for this therapy. Since then, antibody research has progressed. We know them much better and therefore try to optimize them. This is what a team of American-Swiss researchers against respiratory viral diseases did, and they publish their results in the journal Nature.
Respiratory diseases: modified antibodies to the rescue
During this pandemic of Covid-19, the scientific and information world has not counted its time to popularize the concepts of antibodies,antigen and explain how basic functions of immunity polite. Here we will go into some more difficult considerations. Indeed, immunology is not limited to just antibody / antigen coupling. It is much more complex than that. Indeed, ours glycoproteins protective (antibodies) have other sites of great importance within their structure. In this short article, we will mainly focus on the crystallizable fragment of an antibody. The latter is used, among other things, to bind the antibody to a cell guest.
In their experiment, the scientists set out to optimize this region within monoclonal IgG antibodies to force them to bind to a very specific receptor. This small modification provides better protection against respiratory viral infections in mice. Indeed, there is better survival and this is explained by an increase in the maturation of dendritic cells and a greater induction of lymphocytes T CD8.
This finding once again underscores the ability of antibodies, particularly IgG, to induce adaptive protection against viral infections when they are specially modified to bind to a specific receptor. In doing so, they stimulate crucial immune pathways. This research could have colossal implications in the search for therapies for potentially future pandemics to come.
Do you care what you just read?
.
[ad_2]
Source link
