Research groups such as Yokohama City University have succeeded in developing a monoclonal antibody that can specifically detect the new coronavirus antigen. It was announced on April 2020, 4.
With the number of people infected with the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) exceeding 200 million worldwide, only viral gene detection methods such as the PCR method are currently applied to pathogen testing.The current situation is that the number of tests is limited because these tests require an average of about 4 to 6 hours to make a diagnosis and also require special equipment.There is an urgent need to develop a rapid and simple diagnostic method, but the development of a monoclonal antibody that can accurately recognize the new coronavirus antigen is essential for the development of test kits.
In this study, in order to tackle this problem, we first prepared the nucleocapsid protein (NP) that constitutes the new coronavirus by a synthetic method that applies the wheat germ cell-free method possessed by Professor Akihide Liang of the same university.Next, by inoculating mice with this as an immunogen, we succeeded in establishing 144 strains of "hybridoma" that produce monoclonal antibodies against NP.
Of these, 20 hybridomas that produce antibodies that specifically recognize only the new coronavirus antigen were screened.Since the site of the new coronavirus recognized by these antibodies is not similar to the closely related SARS coronavirus and the human coronavirus that causes general cold symptoms, this antibody does not react with other human coronaviruses at all. It only reacts with the new coronavirus.Using this antibody, it is expected that an immunochromatographic kit that can detect only the new coronavirus accurately, easily and in a short time will be developed in the future. If it is put into practical use as a screening test before the PCR test, it will lead to appropriate medical treatment and prevention of the spread of infection.
