[STUDY] Scientists Explain How Antibodies Could Worsen COVID-19

A new study was conducted to know whether human antibodies can ward off or worsen COVID-19, which causes the ongoing global pandemic. British scientists launched a recent major study to uncover human antibodies and other immune defenses' role in the severity of COVID-19 cases.

Professor Michael Levin's group, a team led by Professor George Kassiotis at London's Francis Crick Institute, carried out the current study. The scientists involved are led by Dr. Dan Davis of the University College London.

The researchers will use thousands of samples that have been collected as part of existing studies, which are funded by Wellcome and the EU. They will focus on antibodies, which are the critical immune defense proteins that block viruses' activity by binding to them.

"We discovered a small group - about 6% of the UK population - already had antibodies that could recognize the new virus, although they've never been exposed to it," said Kassiotis.

"We realized there must be cross-reactivity occurring between common cold coronaviruses and the new pandemic strain. Both are coronaviruses, after all," the professor added.

One-fifth of common colds in the United Kingdom had been caused by COVID-19. The viral particles trigger antibodies that latch to them. Kassiotis suggests that antibodies somehow prevent the virus from entering the human body. However, these proteins could also worsen the disease, according to the study.

How antibodies worsen COVID-19

Although antibodies can prevent viral particles from entering the body, they could also different impacts. Levin said that they began to see severely ill, infected children suffering from intense inflammation and multi-organ failure after the pandemic.

The researchers claimed that this could be caused by a phenomenon called "antibody-dependent enhancement of disease." The scientists compared it with dengue fever, which has three strains. The professor explained that when people are infected with only one Dengue strain, they might not become terribly ill.

However, if the infected individual gets infected by a different strain, they could be in trouble. The antibodies that their immune systems first made can worsen when proteins encounter a new strain of the virus.

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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.