In a recent study posted to the medRxiv preprint server, researchers at the University of North Carolina and the National Institutes of Health determined the associations between oral severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), oral antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms.
After more than two years since its discovery, six million deaths, and half a billion reported cases, there is still no effective cure for COVID-19. Even though vaccines have lowered the impact of outbreaks, patients that contract the disease can only receive supportive care while they wait for their own body to clear the infection.
Researchers reported that some monoclonal nAbs directed against distinct RBD epitopes nested inside the SARS-CoV-2 S could substitute ACE2 as a receptor and support fusion between viral and host cell membranes facilitating viral infectivity.