Heritable transgenic schistosomes as a living platform for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody secretion
Nature Communications·
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-026-76465-9
- PMID
- 42649193
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7204235052
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The study demonstrates a potential sustained protein-delivery platform and motivates further exploration of transgenic schistosomes as living-foundry therapeutics.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
Whether a heritable transgenic Schistosoma mansoni line can be generated and propagated while secreting a functional SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibody in a mammalian host.
Study design
Experimental study using multiplexed CRISPR/Cas-mediated homology-directed knock-in, single-miracidium infections in Biomphalaria glabrata, serial passage through snail and mouse hosts, and molecular and in vitro neutralization assays.
Population and setting
Laboratory schistosome–snail and mouse host systems, including an F2 cohort of parasites carrying the C5-Fc transgene and mice harboring the transgenic worms.
Main findings
All parasites in the F2 cohort carried the C5-Fc transgene and secreted C5-Fc into murine venous circulation. Molecular assays supported chromosomal insertion, germline transmission, and systemic secretion; sera from mice harboring transgenic worms neutralized SARS-CoV-2 in vitro with activity consistent with ACE2-binding blockade.
Public-health relevance
The study demonstrates a potential sustained protein-delivery platform and motivates further exploration of transgenic schistosomes as living-foundry therapeutics.
Important limitations
The summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata, which do not report safety, efficacy in humans, dosing, immunogenicity, containment, or translational limitations; decision-grade interpretation requires the original paper.
GIDS interpretation
The paper is classified under SARS/COVID-19 and treatment-related topics, providing contextual discoverability for literature on therapeutic delivery. This classification does not establish a connection to any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 9 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.