HOW THE IMMUNO-COV TEST WORKS - FROM INFECTION TO ANALYSIS
Contact with SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
SARS-CoV-2 enters an exposed person’s body.
Spike proteins on the outer surface of SARS-CoV-2 bind to receptors on certain cells, triggering virus entry into the cells and subsequent virus replication.
After replication, new virus is released from the cell. The body’s immune response includes production of antibodies to stop further virus spread.
All of these newly produced antibodies recognize the virus, but only neutralizing antibodies block the virus from entering cells, thereby preventing infection.
Infected patients can be either symptomatic or asymptomatic.
The gene encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is engineered into a harmless Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV).
Cells express complementary pieces of a reporter protein. When cells fuse, the complementary pieces come together which causes the cells to glow.
Infection with surrogate VSV (expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein) causes cells to fuse and glow.
A sample of your blood is incubated with the surrogate virus and then combined with the assay cells.
If your blood contains neutralizing antibodies, they will prevent the surrogate virus from infecting and fusing the cells, so the cells will not glow.
If your blood only contains non-neutralizing antibodies, the surrogate virus will infect cells, causing them to fuse and glow.