Inhaled drug cocktail could block COVID-19, temporarily

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 62, No. 9, November 2020, Page 344 News COVID-19

Immunotherapy based on antibody research being developed by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr Horacio Bach could provide short-term protection against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Dr Horacio Bach and his team hope a temporary antibody-based treatment will help the immune system clear the COVID-19 virus from the body without inducing inflammation or a cytokine storm. Dr Bach, study co-lead Dr Ted Steiner, and their team are developing single-chain antibodies that would neutralize proteins the COVID-19 virus employs to infiltrate cells. Though there are millions of potential antibodies to choose from, Bach and his team have already identified over 20 hopefuls since beginning their research in April.

The researchers are using a novel approach involving a bacterial system to screen the antibodies. An antibody attached to a noninfectious virus is injected into a bacterium, and after a processing step, researchers check whether that blocks viral proteins used by COVID-19 to infiltrate host cells. Several protective antibodies against COVID-19 are being sought, as the virus possesses a multitude of protein keys to unlock the body’s cells. The ideal therapy would contain an antibody cocktail that can guard against multiple lines of viral attack.

The therapy may be delivered via an inhaler for short-term security from the virus, with the goal being for a dose to shield against the virus for several hours or more until protective antibodies are processed and expelled from the body—long enough to catch a flight, go to an appointment, or see a loved one.

The novel coronavirus infects mostly primary airway epithelial cells. Once these cells are infected, white blood cell antibodies (macrophages) attack the virus-containing cells and internalize them. Problematically, COVID-19 also infects macrophages with its protein key, which can lead to a heightened and potentially deadly cytokine storm. Bach’s therapy could sidestep this problem by encapsulating COVID-19 with antibodies that would not infect macrophages, giving the body a leg up on slowing and stopping the disease.

Dr Bach is an adjunct professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of British Columbia and manager of the Immunity and Infection Research Centre Proteomic and Antibody Engineering Facility. He anticipates that this approach will enter human trials by spring 2021.

. Inhaled drug cocktail could block COVID-19, temporarily. BCMJ, Vol. 62, No. 9, November, 2020, Page(s) 344 - News, COVID-19.



Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

Leave a Reply