SARS survivors provide treatment for future patients

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>SARS survivors provide treatment for future patients</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>Cells from patients who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be used to make antibodies — proteins that help fight infections — against the SARS virus. These could be given as an immune system-boosting treatment to patients who are still fighting the disease, according to research published in <em>Nature Medicine</em>.  </P><br />
<P>Researchers used cells from recovered SARS patients and used them as ‘factories’ for producing antibodies against the SARS virus. When tested in mice infected with SARS, the antibodies prevented the virus from replicating. </P><br />
<P>This phenomenon is known as ‘passive immunity’. Instead of making a patient’s own immune response stronger, as would happen with a vaccine, immunity is ‘boosted’ with supplementary antibodies from an external source. The scientists say their approach could provide a faster means of immunising patients than vaccines, and could also be available on the market sooner. They suggest that their technique for producing antibodies could be used to treat all infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. </P><br />
<P><a  href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3889111.stm" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to the full BBC Online news story</A></P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/sars-survivors-provide-treatment-for-future-patien/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/sars-survivors-provide-treatment-for-future-patien/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Cells from patients who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be used to make antibodies — proteins that help fight infections — against the SARS virus. These could be given as an immune system-boosting treatment to patients who are still fighting the disease, according to research published in Nature Medicine.

Researchers used cells from recovered SARS patients and used them as ‘factories’ for producing antibodies against the SARS virus. When tested in mice infected with SARS, the antibodies prevented the virus from replicating.

This phenomenon is known as ‘passive immunity’. Instead of making a patient’s own immune response stronger, as would happen with a vaccine, immunity is ‘boosted’ with supplementary antibodies from an external source. The scientists say their approach could provide a faster means of immunising patients than vaccines, and could also be available on the market sooner. They suggest that their technique for producing antibodies could be used to treat all infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Link to the full BBC Online news story