The team explained that this antibody works in a “rare” way against Strep A that “has never been described before” and “could explain why so many vaccination attempts have been unsuccessful.”
The antibodies are shaped like the letter Y. The one they detected, called Ab25, used its two “arms” to attach to two different parts of a protein on the surface of the Strep A bacteria, called the M protein.
Generally, antibodies use one arm to bind to a single site, the researchers said. But this process is ineffective against Strep A.
Dr Wael Bahnan, one of the authors of the study, said: “This opens up possibilities where previous vaccine attempts have failed and means that the monoclonal antibody we used has the potential to protect against infection.”
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