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Chinese, U.S. scientists develop antibodies against COVID-19 variants like Omicron
CGTN
The screenshot of the study from the website of Cell Research

The screenshot of the study from the website of Cell Research

Chinese and U.S. scientists have developed new antibody cocktails that can provide broad-spectrum protection against COVID-19 variants of concern, including the prevalent Omicron.

Their study, jointly conducted by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was published on July 29 in the journal Cell Research.

COVID-19 variants with adaptive mutations have caused fresh outbreaks even among vaccinated populations.

The researchers fused an antibody called aRBD-2 with another two aRBD-5 and aRBD-7, respectively.

The cellular assays demonstrated that the two combined nanobodies, aRBD-2-5 and aRBD-2-7, retain strong neutralization activity against all the tested major variants, including Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2.

The strategy provides new solutions in the development of broad-spectrum therapeutic antibodies for COVID-19, the researchers said. 

(With input from Xinhua)

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