19 Oct 2020
“This test gives us additional markers to assess when developing vaccines, antivirals and therapies, and could ultimately help us to improve their effectiveness” – Dalan Bailey, The Pirbright Institute.
James Westgate
Job Title
Scientists from The Pirbright Institute have helped develop a test that can detect antibodies that prevent COVID-19 infecting neighbouring cells.
Being able to test for antibodies that block cell-to-cell fusion is a valuable tool for analysing the antibody response against multiple viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus, Nipah virus and SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
The method, developed in collaboration with the University of Queensland and the University of Oxford, can be used in tandem with other tests to assess the effectiveness of vaccines, therapeutics and antivirals.
Most antibody tests focus on detecting neutralising antibodies, which block viruses from entering the cell to prevent infection. However, some viruses spread by forcing the cells they infect to fuse with their neighbours, creating multi-nucleated cells known as syncytia.
Until now, limited tools existed to assess whether the neutralising antibodies could also prevent these cell fusion events and whether halting this process would result in better protection against the virus.
However, studies described in the Journal of General Virology have demonstrated this new method – dubbed the micro-fusion inhibition test (mFIT) – can determine whether antibodies are effective at preventing syncytia formation, which can facilitate further research into whether this characteristic improves the protection offered by antibodies.
Pirbright scientists are now actively using the mFIT to assess a number of COVID-19 vaccines to provide more in-depth information about the immune responses triggered, as part of extensive collaborations within the vaccine development field.
Dalan Bailey, head of the Viral Glycoproteins Group at Pirbright, said: “The broad applications of this test, alongside its reliability and high throughput nature, make the mFIT a valuable tool that can be used in tandem with standard neutralisation tests to provide new insights into the importance of cell fusion in infection and immunity.
“This test gives us additional markers to assess when developing vaccines, antivirals and therapies, and could ultimately help us to improve their effectiveness.”
