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Coronavirus vaccine developers wary of errant antibodies
Concerns persist that COVID-19 vaccines could cause antibody-dependent enhancement, which can potentiate viral entry into host cells and worsen disease.
In late May, CanSino Biologics published the first data for its COVID-19 vaccine expressing spike protein. The vaccine generated neutralizing antibodies in many recipients and appeared safe, but the company, like others in this space, remains on alert for a dangerous phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). “It’s important to talk about it [ADE],” says Gregory Glenn, president of R&D at Novavax, which launched its COVID-19 vaccine trial in May. But “we can’t be overly cautious. People are dying. So we need to be aggressive here.”