Scientific Breakthrough Against COVID-19: Antibodies Identified That May Make Coronavirus Vaccines Unnecessary

Beating COVID-19 Coronavirus

Two antibodies that neutralize all known strains of COVID-19 – including Omicron – with up to 95% efficiency have been isolated by researchers. There is the possibility that these antibody treatments may make repeated booster shots for new variants unnecessary.

  • Tel Aviv University scientists have isolated two antibodies that neutralize all known strains of COVID-19 – including Omicron – with up to 95% efficiency.
  • The researchers: Targeted treatment with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high concentrations may serve as an effective substitute for vaccines, especially for at-risk populations such as those with weakened immune systems. By using antibody treatment, it is possible that the need to provide repeated booster shots to the entire population every time a new variant emerges will be eliminated.

A scientific breakthrough against COVID-19 has been realized by Tel Aviv University. A team of scientists from the university has demonstrated that antibodies isolated from the immune system of recovered COVID-19 patients are effective in neutralizing all known strains of the virus. This includes the Delta and the Omicron variants. This discovery may eliminate the need for repeated booster vaccinations and strengthen the immune system of populations at risk, according to the researchers.

Dr. Natalia Freund and doctoral students Michael Mor and Ruofan Lee of the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine led the research. The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ben Croker of the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Prof. Ye Xiang of Tsinghua University in Beijing as well as Prof. Meital Gal-Tanamy and Dr. Moshe Dessau of Bar-Ilan University also took part in the study. The study was published on August 5 in the Nature journal Communications Biology.

Natalia Freund

Dr. Natalia Freund. Credit: Tel Aviv University

The current study is a continuation of a preliminary study that was conducted in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. At that time, Dr. Freund and her colleagues sequenced all the B immune system cells from the blood of people in Israel who had recovered from the original COVID strain. They isolated nine antibodies that the patients produced. The scientists have now found that some of these antibodies are exceptionally effective in neutralizing the new coronavirus variants, Delta and Omicron.

Dr. Freund: “In the previous study, we showed that the various antibodies that are formed in response to infection with the original virus are directed against different sites of the virus. The most effective antibodies were those that bound to the virus’s ‘spike’ protein, in the same place where the spike binds to the cellular receptor ACE2. Of course, we were not the only ones to isolate these antibodies, and the global health system made extensive use of them until the arrival of the different variants of the coronavirus, which in fact rendered most of those antibodies useless.

“In our view, targeted treatment with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high concentrations can serve as an effective substitute for repeated boosters, especially for at-risk populations and those with weakened immune systems.” — Dr. Natalia Freund

“In the current study, we proved that two other antibodies, TAU-1109 and TAU-2310, which bind the viral spike protein in a different area from the region where most of the antibodies were concentrated until now (and were, therefore, less effective in neutralizing the original strain) are actually very effective in neutralizing the Delta and Omicron variants. According to our findings, the effectiveness of the first antibody, TAU-1109, in neutralizing the Omicron strain is 92%, and in neutralizing the Delta strain, 90%. The second antibody, TAU-2310, neutralizes the Omicron variant with an efficacy of 84%, and the Delta variant with an efficacy of 97%.”

Dr. Freund believes that the surprising effectiveness of these antibodies might be related to the evolution of the virus.

“The infectivity of the virus increased with each variant because each time, it changed the amino acid sequence of the part of the spike protein that binds to the ACE2 receptor, thereby increasing its infectivity and at the same time evading the natural antibodies that were created following vaccinations. In contrast, the antibodies TAU-1109 and TAU-2310 don’t bind to the ACE2 receptor binding site, but to another region of the spike protein – an area of the viral spike that for some reason does not undergo many mutations – and they are therefore effective in neutralizing more viral variants. These findings emerged as we tested all the known COVID strains to date.”

The two antibodies, cloned in Dr. Freund’s laboratory at Tel Aviv University, were sent for tests to check their effectiveness against live viruses in laboratory cultures at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). They were also tested against pseudoviruses in the laboratories of the Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University in the Galilee. In both tests, the results were identical and equally encouraging.

These antibodies can bring about a real revolution in the fight against COVID-19 according to Dr. Freund.

“We need to look at the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of previous disease outbreaks that humankind has witnessed. People who were vaccinated against smallpox at birth and who today are 50 years old still have antibodies, so they are probably protected, at least partially, from the monkeypox virus that we have recently been hearing about.

“Unfortunately, this is not the case with the coronavirus. For reasons we still don’t yet fully understand, the level of antibodies against COVID-19 declines significantly after three months, which is why we see people getting infected again and again, even after being vaccinated three times.

“In our view, targeted treatment with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high concentrations can serve as an effective substitute for repeated boosters, especially for at-risk populations and those with weakened immune systems. COVID-19 infection can cause serious illness, and we know that providing antibodies in the first days following infection can stop the spread of the virus. It is, therefore, possible that by using effective antibody treatment, we will not have to provide booster doses to the entire population every time there is a new variant.”

Reference: “Conformational flexibility in neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by naturally elicited anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies” by Ruofan Li, Michael Mor, Bingting Ma, Alex E. Clark, Joel Alter, Michal Werbner, Jamie Casey Lee, Sandra L. Leibel, Aaron F. Carlin, Moshe Dessau, Meital Gal-Tanamy, Ben A. Croker, Ye Xiang and Natalia T. Freund, 5 August 2022, Communications Biology.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03739-5

29 Comments on "Scientific Breakthrough Against COVID-19: Antibodies Identified That May Make Coronavirus Vaccines Unnecessary"

  1. Natural Immunity for the win.

  2. This will likely be stopped from reaching the people of the world by the pharmaceutical companies paid for minions within governments around the world

  3. But if we don’t need continuous booster shots, how will big pharma keep reaping record profits? Won’t someone think of the poor pharmaceutical companies…

  4. Give it to the vaccinated because their immune systems to my understanding have been diminished because of the vaccines? Glad to see progress.

  5. Based on comments regarding news such as this, you can tell whether a person is generally more optimistic or pessimistic. The former see “silver linings” in otherwise dark clouds. The latter say the “silver” is not shiny enough.

    Congratulations to Dr. Freund and her colleagues at Tel Aviv University. Thank you for all you have done and will do in the future.

  6. This is actually a great thing for those still living in fear of covid. Now let’s see if anything comes of it because they just sunk their teeth into the pharmaceutical companies golden goose!

    • Great news. Personally I find the scariest thing about the pandemic has been that any new scientific studies into any options other than vaccines has been immediately dismissed as antivax. Has can new science evolve if people are not prepared to accept that the vaccines where pushed out on millions of people without adequate scientific studies. It would seem from this article that natural immunity has always been the preferable option to vaccination for the young and healthy. Let’s at least allow the studies without banning them.

  7. Actual scientist | September 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm | Reply

    Whoever wrote this is a moron and has no idea what they are talking about. And to the dum dum that says big pharma will not let this become accessible to the product, Regeneron already has a product nearly identical to this that has been on the market for quite a while now.

  8. Its like some of you have zero reading conorehension. How will they make money? Well you sound like antivaxers in the first olace so they werent getting any from selling yiu the vaccine, niw they’ll add a hefty markup to the cure whem you come cryimg to the er that your sick…

    • you need to learn how to type, then maybe you might be qualified to make snide comments

    • In addition, I was, still am, allergic to a couple of the ingredients in these “vaxes” so I have good reason to avoid them.
      I’ve practiced the “rules”, I wear a mask when I go into a public place, wash my hands with a soap before handling grocery carts, et al, then wash my hands before getting back into my car, etc. When I get home, I wipe down all the products before putting them away. My wife has a heart condition, and she was informed by her doctors not to take the vaccine, so she’s done the same that I have. Neither of us have had any of the strains, yet people who live on either side of us tookd the shots and the boosters and still caught covid, one neighbor got it twice. So back off and remember the adage “if you can’t say anything nice, then shut your mouth” (well, in Bambi, the second part was “don’t say anything at all”…. but shut your mouth was my interpretation.

  9. This doesn’t make any sense. Instead of repeated vaccination they want people to wait to get infected and then go through a series of antibody injections?

  10. “… and we know that providing antibodies in the first days following infection can stop the spread of the virus.”

    Therein lies the problem and why your antibody treatment will not be very effective. “(T)he first days following infection” are when the patient does not yet feel sick, and certainly does not know that he has been infected with COVID. Patients will not get your antibody treatment until they start developing symptoms, and by then the effectiveness of you antibody treatment will be greatly reduced.

  11. My Doctor pushing the vaccine on me because all the best research out of Israel showed it was necessary. Well well we’ll.

  12. Anti-Covid Hysteria | September 9, 2022 at 11:15 pm | Reply

    @SkepticalBat
    If memory serves me right, the immunity from monoclonal antibody treatments lasts about as long as a vaccine does. Which is about 3 months for this virus. Yes, that’s the best you get from the vaccine, this is like trying to vaccine for the common cold: futile.

    Except unlike a vaccination, this treatment is effective on people who are already sick. Considering the frequency of breakthrough infections, this is important, vaccinated or not.

    If I’m being frank, treating the very ill, vaccinating the elderly and leaving the rest to natural immunity is the only rational and logical way to handle this pandemic. Omicron is mild as a cold, and none of the variants have been life threatening to the healthy and young.

    The response to this virus by world governments and the media has absolutely been hysterical and cult like, and has done more harm than good. This is a welcome change of pace, assuming it isn’t suppressed by people willing to throw entire nations under the bus to turn a profit on a fearmongered public.

  13. If this is stuff from reaching the people the people should take matters into their own hands and volunteer to be a part of the study

  14. @castlogic the fact people don’t agree with or question this new vaccine, does not make them antivaxxers.
    See, this the problem. All of you spewing “antivaxxer, antivaxxer” left and right are exactly what you are claiming to be fighting against. If one does not agree with something, you immediately slap a general label on them. Exactly like you’ve been taught to do. Ignorance, fear and compliance is not the way. People should question everything, at all times.

  15. We already do this for at risk populations. This will not reduce the need for vaccines for the main population. The title of this article is wrong, but then journalists are not doctors.

  16. When is this protocol given?
    Also, someone made reference to natural immunity with regard to covid. However it is unclear as to the duration of natural immunity per the science.

  17. It always saddens me when people politicize science.

  18. Antivaxxers

  19. This is a constantly evolving virus and requires constantly evolving treatments. I, for one,am very grateful to all the hard working researchers who won’t stop trying to find answers to treat this virus that has taken so many from us, and left millions suffering from Long Covid.

    • Exactly. It is a new virus. To understand it, we must do the research. And maybe one day we will be able to stop something like this from ever happening again. It takes alot of smart to understand why this is happening to find an answer.

  20. This is a very significant finding. We commend our scientists and researchers for their relentless efforts.

  21. Wow,wow, WOW POR MUCHOS ANOS HA MUERTO MUCHISIMA GENTE CON CANCER Y SIGUEN MURIENDO, COMO PARA OTRAS ENFERMEDADES SI ENXUENTRAN VACUNAS?

  22. 1) those who think this is some anti-“big pharma” opportunity should stop and think about who might be producing and profiting from any such antibody treatment, much like the antibody treatments “big pharma” is currently profiting from.

    2) prevention is almost always easier, safer, and more effective than post infection treatment. “big pharma” would love this to become standard. Their profits would soar compared to the small per-dose profit made from vaccines.

    3) a disease that was approaching the same infectivity as measles laughs at the idea that “treatment in the first few days after infection” would stop spread, when significant spread happens prior to symptoms. This would be far more effective in preventing severe outcomes in those who are able to get/afford it fast enough after an early diagnosis or immediately after symptoms.

    4) this increased antibody level knowledge will benefit both treatments and vaccines. Vaccines are far easier to produce than treatments, which is why they appeared first. No one stopped treatment research, it’s just harder and takes longer. Leave your conspiracies at home.

  23. Gotta love the blind trust that many commenters are showing for our wonderful, honest and perfectly unassailable, selfless humanitarian heroes from Tel Aviv. LOL

  24. The vaccine doesnt work | September 17, 2022 at 11:54 am | Reply

    To the people that believe the vaccine works, keep taking it. It doesn’t work, but don’t let that stop you. Fact

    • Thank OUR Lord Jesus and HOLY SPIRIT Father in Heaven for giving the Scientist in Israel This Breakthrough to discover this .
      The Spike protein in the J&Johnson vaccine my mom s heart protein is high will this miracle help her I pray Israel University’s can stop this spike protein from killing my mom my step dad had j&j vaccine and he’s already dead my mom got the vaccine a year and a half ago .She’s going in Monday @ 6 am to get a heart Cath to see if blockages I don’t know if it’s safe. She hasn’t had any boosters thank the Lord I believe boosters are keeping it going .Praying for a miracle for all the people that have had a vaccine .Discover Miracle for Those who’ve had the j$j or any of the vaccines.I will be praying for the Scientists and the universitys who are working on this .This is Great News .Thank you

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