Some common-cold antibodies may help fight COVID-19

Reuters: Antibodies to the six coronaviruses that cause common colds cannot “neutralise” the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but antibodies to two of them might at least help the body fend off severe illness from the new virus, a small preliminary study suggests. 

German researchers studied 60 patients with COVID-19, including 25 who were hospitalised but not critically ill, 19 who required intensive care unit admission, and 25 who did not get sick enough to be hospitalised. 

The patients who needed intensive care all had significantly lower levels of antibodies to two seasonal coronaviruses, HCoV OC43 and HCoV HKU1, which the authors said are more closely related to the COVID-19 virus compared to the other human coronaviruses. 

While the observation does not prove these antibodies are responsible, “it is remarkable that the effect of HCoV OC43 and HKU1-specific antibody levels reached statistical significance regarding the need for intensive care therapy” in such a small study, the researchers said in a paper published on Tuesday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 

“Further studies should validate this finding and explore the potential to identify persons at risk for severe disease course before a SARS-CoV-2 infection,” they said.