Antibodies

The monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab may be effective in treating hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection if they have no detectable levels of endogenous neutralizing antibodies prior to administration, according to researchers.

In a study of kidney transplant patients who showed no immune response to two SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, 39% developed antibodies within 4 weeks of a third dose.

Although the COVID-19 antibody and immune responses were delayed in patients on dialysis, their responses were “substantially stronger” to the Moderna vaccine than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The presence of anti-rituximab antibodies does not change the response that pediatric patients with steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome have to rituximab treatment, according to a speaker from ASN Kidney Week.

After two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, pediatric transplant patients responded with positive and protective antibody levels with results indicating a “more robust” immune response than that found in adult transplant patients.

Assessing hepatitis D virus patients for viremia, as well as expanded screening for HDV antibodies in hepatitis B virus patients, may help further identify active HDV cases, according to a presentation at UEG Week Virtual.

A team of researchers from Seattle and the CDC found that neutralizing antibodies remained detectable in most children 6 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, waning “to a small degree,” according to results presented at IDWeek.

Infants born to mothers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine had high levels of protective antibodies, according to findings published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology — Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine generated a ninefold increase in antibodies among clinical trial participants compared with levels seen 28 days after the first shot.

Lactating women who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their breast milk, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.