Antibodies can use different weapons to tackle SARS-CoV-2

What is it about?

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to deeply understand which arms of the immune system are responsible for protection from infection and from severe infection. Antibody neutralization has been the main indicator of protection, but other functions induced by the fragment crystallizable (Fc) portion of the antibodies can play a key role in killing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this work, we deeply characterized for the first time the antibody Fc response and identified new vulnerability sites of the virus that can be used to develop the next generations of vaccines and therapeutics to COVID-19.

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Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In this study, we investigated at the single cell level the Fc functions mediated by almost 500 neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies unraveling the spike protein domains, the specific epitopes, and B cell germlines mainly involved in this response. Our data revealed that neutralizing antibodies that lose their neutralization activity can retain their Fc functions to tackle the virus. These data suggest that synergy between Fc-mediated functions and neutralization could be a successful strategy to design improved vaccines and therapeutics against COVID-19.