Research that six out of ten possess the genes to overcome COVID 19 is attracting attention.

This research result was published in a paper revealed on the 1st by the joint research team of Seoul National University Hospital (Professors Myoung-Don Oh and Wan Beom Park (Infectious Diseases)) and Seoul National University (Sang Il Kim and Professor Junho Chung (Biochemistry)), Ph.D. Candidate Jinsung Noh and Professor Sunghoon Kwon (Electrical and Computer Engineering)).

In this paper where genetic characteristics related to COVID 19 were analyzed, it was uncovered that 6 out of 10 people not diagnosed with COVID 19 already had immune cells that produce the neutralizing antibodies that can defeat the corona virus.

The team confirmed the existence of neutralizing antibodies in 13 out of 16 patients who were under treatment after being diagnosed at SNUH.

Simply put, this means that our body already possesses the genes to fight off COVID 19.

Professor Wan Beom Park said, “If a non-infected person already has immune cells that produce neutralizing antibodies, they could be produced much faster when the corona virus enters.”

Professor Park added, “When the virus enters, immune cells differentiate and mutate to produce the antibodies. This generally takes from two weeks to a month. Half of the 13 patients had the neutralizing antibodies in a week.”

He explained, “The reason the neutralizing antibodies are produced at such a rate is probably because they already had related genes before the infection.”.

The research was published in the recent issue of ‘Science Translational Medicine’, a world-renowned journal in translational medicine. Research was financially supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s foundational technology development business, global R&D foundation establishment business, leading researcher support business and BK21 plus.

Source: http://ee.snu.ac.kr/community/news?bm=v&bbsidx=50943

Translated by: Jee Hyun Lee, English Editor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, jlee621@snu.ac.kr