'SARS and MERS Antibodies Also Effective Against COVID-19'

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have secured technology to treat COVID-19 using some antibodies from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). They have also taken a step closer to developing a diagnostic kit that can confirm infection in real time through COVID-19 genetic analysis. Existing diagnostic kits take six hours.

MERS and SARS antibodies also bind to COVID-19

On the 4th, residents are lining up in front of a pharmacy in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to purchase masks as the government is considering a plan to sell masks exclusively at pharmacies. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology on the 4th, the CEVI (Novel Virus) Fusion Research Team recently announced research results showing that two SARS neutralizing antibodies and one MERS neutralizing antibody can bind to the spike protein of COVID-19. This means that antibodies from MERS and SARS can also act on COVID-19. The spike protein is a protein used by the virus to invade cells.

The research team analyzed the genome of COVID-19 and confirmed its similarity to the SARS virus. They then bioinformatically investigated whether existing SARS and MERS neutralizing antibodies could bind to COVID-19. As a result, they concluded that two SARS antibodies and one MERS antibody can bind to the COVID-19 spike protein. This confirms that COVID-19 treatment is possible using SARS or MERS antibodies.

Technology development for real-time COVID-19 diagnostic kit

On the 4th, residents are lining up in front of a pharmacy in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to purchase masks as the government is considering a plan to sell masks exclusively at pharmacies. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Additionally, the research team has taken a step closer to developing a diagnostic kit capable of real-time COVID-19 diagnosis. This was made possible by successfully diagnosing the performance of a gene sequence analysis kit (primer and probe set) for detecting COVID-19.

A primer is a short gene sequence that serves as the starting point for synthesizing a specific gene. A probe is a short gene sequence labeled with fluorescence that can read the amplification of a specific gene in real time.

Lee Mi-hye, Director of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, said, "Based on these research results, we will actively support the development of COVID-19 diagnostic technology, vaccines, and therapeutics."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.