A research team based in Taiwan has found a key antibody that has the ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The team, led by Huang Kuan-ying (黃冠穎), a doctor in the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Linkou branch in New Taipei City, is comprised of researchers from the hospital, Chang Gung University, Academia Sinica and the Institute of Preventive Medicine at the National Defense Medical Center, as well as Oxford University in the UK.
The team on Thursday said that it examined antibody function through immunofluorescence assays, neutralization tests and plaque reduction neutralization tests.
Photo courtesy of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
Tests with strains from different clades, including strains from China, the US, Europe and Egypt, showed an equivalent neutralization effect of 90 to 98 percent, it said.
The test results demonstrated the potential of SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic products, it added.
Chang Gung University Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections director Shih Shin-ru (施信如) said that for the coronavirus to infect the body, it has to integrate with a protein attached to the surface of human cells called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.
The antibody discovered by the team can prevent this process by integrating with the enzyme first, thus blocking the coronavirus’ path to infection, she said.
The team plans to use the antibody to develop medication, Shih said, adding that it would next month meet with manufacturers, which would conduct further trials before beginning mass production.
If all goes well, the medicine could be on the market by the end of this year, she said.
Although the antibody has shown promising results in human cell testing, Shih said that as no clinical trials have been conducted, it is still uncertain how it would perform in COVID-19 patients.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS