Publications by authors named "Rikin Mehta"
Article Synopsis
- Immunoglobulin A (IgA), especially in its secretory form (sIgA), is a key antibody in human mucosal defenses and is prevalent in human milk, which presents an opportunity to develop it as a therapeutic against mucosal pathogens, like SARS-CoV-2.
- The study successfully extracted sIgA from the milk of donors who either hadn’t been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 or had recovered from it, creating a product called LCTG-002 that shows enhanced binding to the virus's Spike protein compared to standard IgA.
- LCTG-002 was found to effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and significantly lower viral levels in infected mice, demonstrating its potential as a viable therapeutic
Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is the most abundant antibody (Ab) in human mucosal compartments including the respiratory tract, with the secretory form of IgA (sIgA) being dominant and uniquely stable in these environments. sIgA is naturally found in human milk, which could be considered a global resource for this biologic, justifying the development of human milk sIgA as a dedicated airway therapeutic for respiratory infections such as SARS-CoV-2. In the present study, methods were therefore developed to efficiently extract human milk sIgA from donors who were either immunologically naïve to SARS-CoV-2 (pooled as a control IgA) or had recovered from a PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection that elicited high-titer anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike sIgA Abs in their milk (pooled together to make LCTG-002).
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