Researchers Indu Khatri, Frank Staal, and Jacques van Dongen from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have published a perspective article in Frontiers in Immunology about coronavirus and its characteristic spike protein. They predict which antibodies would provide the best protection against the virus and which vaccines might help.

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In their article in Frontiers in Immunology the researchers from the LUMC's Immunology department describe how the human immune system responds to coronavirus. Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a new microorganism. This means, say the researchers, that we need a well-functioning immune system that can quickly and efficiently produce antibodies to the virus, a process that the researchers are further investigating in two joint LUMC studies.

For their publication, the LUMC researchers used bioinformatics tools to conduct an in-depth analysis of published data. They conclude that the binding of the virus's spike protein to the human mucous membranes is unusually high. The current binding domain of this viral spike protein appears to have remained unchanged since the initial outbreak in China in November 2019. According to co-author Jacques van Dongen, this binds almost perfectly—with no fewer than 18 contact points—to the human ACE2 protein, something that is very uncommon in nature.