Taiwanese team finds key antibodies in COVID-19 patients

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/07/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A Taiwanese research team has produced 25 human monoclonal antibodies based on antibody gene segments from three patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Huang Kuan-ying (黃冠穎), a resident physician at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital who led the research team, told the press Tuesday that the achievement could facilitate the development of not only rapid screening kits but also medication that targets the virus.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are immune system proteins that are created in the lab. They are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique parent cell. Like the body's own antibodies, mAbs recognize specific targets.

The mAbs, made based on antibodies in B cells of the patients, are 13 strains targeting the spike protein (S) of the coronavirus and 12 strains targeting the nucleocapsid protein (N) of the virus.
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