TY - JOUR AB - The world is facing one of the major outbreaks of viral infection of the modern history, however, as vaccine development workflow is still tedious and can not control the infection spreading, researchers are turning to passive immunization as a good and quick alternative to treat and contain the spreading. Within passive immunization domain, raising specific immunoglobulin (Ig)Y against acute respiratory tract infection has been developing for more than 20 years. Far from being an obsolete chapter we will revise the IgY‑technology as a new frontier for research and clinic. A wide range of IgY applications has been effectively confirmed in both human and animal health. The molecular particularities of IgY give them functional advantages recommending them as good candidates in this endeavor. Obtaining specific IgY is sustained by reliable and nature friendly methodology as an alternative for mammalian antibodies. The aria of application is continuously enlarging from bacterial and viral infections to tumor biology. Specific anti‑viral IgY were previously tested in several designs, thus its worth pointing out that in the actual COVID-19 pandemic context, respiratory infections need an enlarged arsenal of therapeutic approaches and clearly the roles of IgY should be exploited in depth. AD - Immunology Laboratory, ‘Victor Babes’ National Institute of Pathology, 050096 Bucharest, Romania Romvac Company S.A., 077190 Voluntari, Romania Laboratory of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece AU - Constantin,Carolina AU - Neagu,Monica AU - Supeanu,Teodora,Diana AU - Chiurciu,Viorica AU - Spandidos,Demetrios,A. DA - 2020/07/01 DO - 10.3892/etm.2020.8704 EP - 158 IS - 1 JO - Exp Ther Med KW - immunoglobulin IgY acute respiratory infection COVID-19 PY - 2020 SN - 1792-0981 1792-1015 SP - 151 ST - IgY ‑ turning the page toward passive immunization in COVID-19 infection (Review) T2 - Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine TI - IgY ‑ turning the page toward passive immunization in COVID-19 infection (Review) UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.8704 VL - 20 ER -