If you or a loved one are interested in understanding your immune status and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Innovative Health Diagnostics’ (IHD) at-home COVID-19 neutralizing antibody (“CNAB”) test is a tool that can be used in the comfort of your own home to better understand your long-term immunity.
While most antibody tests on the market are qualitative, meaning they only show whether you have antibodies or not, IHD’s CNAB test measures your COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies, which are those that specifically target the virus and neutralize it within your system.
So, whether you are exposed to someone with COVID-19, or simply just care about protecting your health and understanding your immunity, the CNAB test can provide information about how your immune system would respond to the virus, allowing you to plan ahead and take necessary precautions.
What are neutralizing antibodies and why are they important to maintaining immunity from COVID-19?
Your body produces antibodies by your immune system after vaccination or infection, in response to things the body perceives as foreign, or pathogens. What's unique about antibodies is that they can assume different shapes and go after lots of different pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes the COVID-19 virus.
In a study on antibodies as it relates to COVID-19, researchers found that participants with healthy levels of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies had only mild symptoms when infected with the virus, while participants who wound up hospitalized had minimal or undetectable levels of neutralizing antibodies at the start of their infections.
“The ability to detect neutralizing antibodies can help us gain additional insight into what the existence of antibodies may mean for patients as we continue the fight against COVID-19,” said Tim Stenzel, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “There are still many unknowns about what the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may tell us about potential immunity, but today’s authorization gives us another tool to evaluate those antibodies as we continue to research and study this virus. Patients should not interpret results as telling them they are immune, or have any level of immunity, from the virus.”
How do neutralizing antibodies work?
The pathogen causing COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, has a biological key called a spike protein, which allows it to bind to receptors on the cell membrane and unlock the door to human cells.
Once inside of cells, the virus replicates and causes the infection COVID-19. The immune system produces neutralizing antibodies which bind to the viral spike protein and block its ability to function as a key. Neutralized SARS-CoV-2 can no longer enter human cells or cause infection.
What is a Covid neutralizing antibody test?
Neutralizing antibody tests, such as IHD’s CNAB, can help provide detection of the total number of neutralizing antibodies available in an individual to fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Since these tests monitor inhibition of viral growth in cell culture, it will show the presence of antibodies and may reveal how your body will handle COVID-19 if exposed.
Neutralizing antibody detection tests, such as the at-home CNAB offering provided by IHD, are used to determine the functional ability of antibodies to prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.
“By leveraging our industry expertise and diagnostic capabilities, we are working to find solutions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 and its variants,” said IHD CEO David White. “The launch of this Covid neutralizing antibody test is the latest effort in our company’s commitment to continue the return to normal that we are currently seeing at this stage of the pandemic.”
When is the best time for a CNAB test?
Neutralizing antibody tests can be used to monitor and detect prior COVID-19 infection, confirm if a person has produced an immune response following infection, and even monitor antibody vaccine response.
Post-Vaccination
Take a neutralizing antibody test after your first COVID-19 vaccine dose followed by another one after your second dose to check whether your body produced neutralizing antibodies in response to the vaccine.
For a vaccine that is 95% effective, approximately 5,000 out of every 100,000 people who are vaccinated will not be protected.
Also, with a two-dose vaccine, it was discovered that there was limited protection against symptomatic disease caused by the Omicron variant. A booster after the first two vaccinations was shown to substantially increase protection, but that protection wanes over time.
Post-Recovery
If you were infected with SARS-COV-2 and battled the COVID-19 virus, the CNAB test can detect your immune system's response to the infection. Experts are still learning about how long neutralizing antibodies remain in the blood after infection, and whether you are protected from reinfection in the future.
General Awareness
If you are seeking a baseline test before vaccination or are simply curious about your immune status for additional protective measures, the CNAB test is for you. The neutralizing antibody test is available for front line workers, healthcare workers, educators, and the general public.
Start Using the CNAB Test to Protect Your Immunity
The new at-home COVID CNAB test is a critical addition to IHD’s test offerings. This new test provides important information about how effective a person’s antibodies are at neutralizing the virus. Learn more about the IHD Covid-19 neutralizing antibody test kit, and continue to protect yourself and your loved ones from the virus and its variants.