OREANDA-NEWS. People who have been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during an outbreak in 2003 may be immune to a new type of coronavirus. This is stated in a study by a group of scientists from the United States and Switzerland, the results of which were published in the journal Nature.

It turned out that infection with the virus SARS-CoV, which causes acute respiratory syndrome, stimulates the production of antibodies targeting the spike protein (S-protein), which is responsible for docking coronavirus with receptors on the cell surface. One of the varieties of such bodies (S309) is capable of neutralizing areas of S-protein of SARS-CoV2 (causative agent of COVID-19). Thus, people who have had SARS can be immune to the new virus.

According to the researchers, blends made of such antibodies can be used in the treatment of severe forms of COVID-19.