This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
31–40 of 207 posts
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#32This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
Tl;dr: because biology at scale is complicated.
Longer-form, because antibodies and immunological response are somewhat complicated. Knowing what an antibody looks like, how to produce it, and how to scale that production in a safe and reliable way are all very different things.
Older article, but general concepts: http://neobiolab.com/research/in-vitro-and-in-vivo-productio...
... And because the in vivo methods we know of are ethically dicey. To rephrase it in rough terms -- creating custom cancers that produce the thing we want and giving them to mice, then harvesting concentrated antibodies from the tumors.
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#33This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#34This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
>Regeneron scientists have isolated hundreds of neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus from a humanized mouse model as well as from humans who have recovered from COVID-19, the company said Tuesday.
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#35This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
Using animals when possible (for example horses, for the production of snake venom antidotes) seems more efficient in cost, volume and time.
Take for instance this crisis. They just need the plasma of immune individuals to give temporary immunity to sick or at risk individuals. It doesn’t scale but it works.
Some good basic reads:
Antigens - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigen
Humoral Inmunity -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humoral_immunity
Synthetic antibodies -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_antibody
Antibodies memetic - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody_mimetic
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you please explain? On the surface this all sounds great, then again, on the surface a lot of things sound great. Especially looking for clarity around this part: Are there side-effects to using this? Plasma is very safe. It is screened for bloodborne pathogens and blood typed so you don't have a transfusion reaction. Blood transfusion is one of the most regulated industries in the United States. It's one of the…
> Plasma is very safe. It is screened for bloodborne pathogens For those we know. In some countries with centralized organizations handling transfusions, both HIV and hepatis were spread before they knew to test them -- then even after they learned. People sued for willful poisoning in Europe, as there was documented evidence the persons taking the decision were told about the risks yet decided to ignore them against…
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#37This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#38Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#39While viable and potentially lifesaving, the risks associated with this type of treatment are significant and should not be downplayed. Edit: This is the line I am objecting to: “ it can be used for prevention of infection for people who are being exposed or it could be used for therapy for those who are sick.” This is not something to generally be handing out to people after simple exposure. For one thing the benifi…
Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready
#40This may be a stupid question. But can the antibodies be synthesized based on samples from recovered patients? If not, why?