Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Will antibody tests for the coronavirus really change everything?

Touted as society’s way out of widespread lockdowns, scientists say the true potential of these rapidly developed tests is still unknown.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called them a ‘game changer’. Antibody tests have captured the world’s attention for their potential to help life return to normal by revealing who has been exposed, and might now be immune, to the new coronavirus.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 580, 571-572 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01115-z

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Gibney.

References

  1. Zhao, J. et al. Clin. Infect. Dis. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa344 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lassaunière, R. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.09.20056325 (2020).

  3. Okba, N. M. A. et al. Emerg. Infect. Dis. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200841 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Wu, F. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.30.20047365 (2020).

  5. Bao, L. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.13.990226 (2020).

  6. Wölfel, R. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2196-x (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links