SARS Spike Protein antibody

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus referred to as SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003. Over the next few months, the illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained. SARS-CoV is transmitted from person to person by close personal contact such as via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The genomes of these viruses are positive-stranded RNA approximately 27-31kb long. SARS-CoV spike (S) protein has two major biological functions: 1) mediating receptor (angiotensin converting enzyme 2, ACE2) binding and membrane fusion; 2) inducing neutralizing antibody responses.