Coronavirus disease 2019 and the revival of passive immunization: Antibody therapy for inhibiting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and preventing host cell infection: IUPHAR review: 31

Francesca Levi-Schaffer, Ario de Marco*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic stimulated both the scientific community and healthcare companies to undertake an unprecedented effort with the aim of understanding the molecular mechanisms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and developing effective therapeutic solutions. The peculiar immune response triggered by this virus, which seems to last only few months, led to a search for alternatives such as passive immunization in addition to conventional vaccinations. Convalescent sera, monoclonal antibodies selected from the most potent neutralizing binders induced by the virus infection, recombinant human single-domain antibodies, and binders of variable scaffold and different origin have been tested alone or in combination exploiting monovalent, multivalent and multispecific formats. In this review, we analyse the state of the research in this field and present a summary of the ongoing projects finalized to identify suitable molecules for therapies based on passive immunization.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)3359-3372
Number of pages14
JournalBritish Journal of Pharmacology
Volume178
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
F.L.-S.'s research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (Moked grant), Rosetrees Trust (United Kingdom), Aimwell Charitable Trust (United Kingdom), and the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology. F.L.-S. is a member of the Adolph and Klara Brettler Center of the Hebrew University. A.d.M. was supported by Grant ARRS/PA-0107 provided by the Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS.

Funding Information:
F.L.‐S.'s research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (Moked grant), Rosetrees Trust (United Kingdom), Aimwell Charitable Trust (United Kingdom), and the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology. F.L.‐S. is a member of the Adolph and Klara Brettler Center of the Hebrew University. A.d.M. was supported by Grant ARRS/PA‐0107 provided by the Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The British Pharmacological Society

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • antibody cocktail
  • convalescent plasma
  • neutralizing antibodies

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