Birds produce a form of antibody, IgY, found in eggs. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have shown that quantities of IgY antibodies specific to the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus can be produced from eggs by immunizing hens. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have been able to produce antibodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in chicken eggs. Antibodies harvested from eggs could be used to treat COVID-19 or as a preventative measure for people exposed to the disease. The work was published July 9 in the journal Viruses.
“The beauty of the system is that you can produce a lot of antibodies in birds,” said Rodrigo Gallardo, professor of poultry medicine, Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “In addition to the low cost of producing these antibodies in chickens, they can be updated very quickly by using updated antigens to hyperimmunize the chickens, allowing protection against current variant strains.”
Birds produce a type of antibody called IgY, comparable to IgG in humans and other mammals. IgY does not cause allergy or trigger immune reactions when injected into humans. IgY occurs both in the serum of birds and in their eggs. Since a hen lays about 300 eggs a year, you can get a lot of IgY, Gallardo said.
Gallardo and colleagues immunized chickens with two doses of three different vaccines based on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein or receptor binding domain. They measured antibodies in blood samples from hens and in egg yolks three and six weeks after the last immunization.
Purified antibodies were tested for their ability to block the coronavirus from infecting human cells at the National Center for Biosecurity and Infectious Diseases at George Mason University in Virginia.
Both eggs and sera from immunized hens contain antibodies that recognize SARS-CoV-2. Antibodies from serum are more effective at neutralizing the virus, possibly because there are more antibodies in the blood overall, Gallardo said.
Gallardo worked with colleagues Daria Mochly-Rosen of Stanford University and Michael Wallach of the University of Technology Sydney to develop the egg-based antibody technology. The team hopes to deploy these antibodies in a preventative treatment such as a spray that can be used by people at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus.
Common coronavirus infections do not generate effective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 More information: Emily J. Aston et al, Hyperimmunized chickens produce neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, Viruses (2022). DOI: 10.3390/v14071510
Citation: Production of Antibodies Against COVID-19 in Hen Eggs (2022, July 13), Retrieved July 14, 2022, from
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