Open camera or QR reader and scan code to access this article and other resources online. Antibody Therapy for COVID-19: Categories, Pros, and Cons Hadi Zare Marzouni, 1 Marjan Rahbar, 2 Nazanin Seddighi, 1 Mohsen Nabizadeh, 3 Sepideh Meidaninikjeh, 4,5, * and Nasim Sabouni 6, * Abstract COVID-19 is a life-threatening respiratory disease triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has been considered a pandemic viral infection since December 2019. The investigation of the effective prophylaxis or therapeutic strategies for emergency management of the current condition has become a priority for medical research centers and pharmaceutical companies. This article provides a comprehensive review of antibody therapy and its different categories with their advantages and disadvantages for COVID-19 over the last few years of the current pandemic. Antibodies can be generated by active immunization, including natural infection with a pathogen and vaccination, or by the passive immunization method such as convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) and antibody synthesis in laboratories. Each of these ways has its characteristics. Arming the immune system with antibodies is the main aim of antiviral therapeutic procedures toward SARS-CoV-2. Collecting and discussing various aspects of available data in this field can give researchers a better perspective for the production of antibody-based products or selection of the most appropriate approach of antibody therapies to improve different cases of COVID-19. Moreover, it can help them control similar viral pandemics that may happen in the future appropriately. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, immunity, therapy, antibodies Introduction S evere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the name of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a single-stranded RNA virus of the betacoronavirus genus belonging to the Coronaviridae family. Having a high rate of mortality and severe compli- cations in the critical organs of the body, SARS-CoV-2 has endangered the lives of many people around the world (41,127). The main transmission route is through inhalation of infectious respiratory droplets produced by the infected person, but the other ways of transmission, such as postnatal, fecal–oral routes, and the contact with contaminated sur- faces, have been reported (10,108). Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are varied depend- ing on the individual condition of patients and their symp- toms, including headache, diarrhea, sputum production, hemoptysis, the loss of smell or taste, and severe inflamma- tory responses such as acute respiratory syndrome disease (14). However, the primary concern about novel coronavirus is the vital organ damage caused by the virus, such as lung and heart damage, which can lead to death in severe cases (57). Discovering a suitable approach to prevent any infec- tious disease requires enough knowledge about the patho- genicity pattern of its microbial agent (54,102). It has been demonstrated that the potent immunogenic factor of SARS-CoV-2 is the spike (S) protein. S protein, through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), attaches to the 1 Qaen School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran. 2 Department of Food Science and Technology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 4 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran. 5 Cancer Biomedical Center (CBC) Research Institute, Tehran, Iran. 6 Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. *These authors contributed equally to this work. VIRAL IMMUNOLOGY Volume 35, Number 8, 2022 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Pp. 1–12 DOI: 10.1089/vim.2021.0160 1 Downloaded by 54.167.246.136 from www.liebertpub.com at 10/08/22. For personal use only.