UNC School of Medicine announces new kind of test for COVID-19

With the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increasing to over 7.5 million, the need for extensively applicable surveillance testing for better understanding of infection rates, particularly the number of infections in people with no or mild symptoms, is of paramount importance.

In a bid to simplify COVID-19 testing across the globe, researchers at UNC School of Medicine have reportedly developed a new kind of antibody test that would help labs that don’t have resources of commercial labs and academic centers to test thousands of blood samples.

Sources cite that the researchers created a blood test to identify SARS-CoV-2 antibodies that target RBD (Receptor Binding Domain) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The RBD-based antibody test measures the levels of that domain which associate to the levels of the important neutralizing antibodies that strengthen immunity.

The RBD of the spike protein in coronavirus is not shared among other known animal and human coronaviruses. Thus, antibodies against this domain are highly specific to SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies are present in the individuals who have been exposed to the coronavirus related to COVID-19.

Certainly, when scientists tested blood collected from individuals exposed to other types of coronaviruses, no one had antibodies to the RBD of SARS-CoV-2.

Commenting on this new study, co-senior author Aravinda de Silva said that the study is very specific for antibodies to the SARS-COV-2, which is not the case for some existing available antibody tests.

Mr. De Silva added that the study’s outcomes strongly support the use of RBD-based antibody evaluates for population-level observation and as a correlate of the neutralizing antibody levels in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

For the development of this new testing methods, researchers studied large number of SARC-Cov-2 infected patients.

Source Credit - https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200611/UNC-scientists-develop-new-kind-of-antibody-test-for-COVID-19.aspx