MADRID, (EUROPA PRESS) – Exposure to coronaviruses that cause the common cold may contribute to pre-existing immunity against Covid-19, according to a new study from Rutgers University (New Jersey, United States).
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Virology Plus, examined immune responses in two categories of individuals from Lagos, Nigeria: health workers at a university hospital and members of the general population residing in five towns.
“Of the 83 percent of people in our study who were exposed to the common cold coronavirus, we found that their T cells cross-reacted with SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that people who have been exposed these genetically related coronaviruses have immunity that protects them from future SARS-CoV-2 infections,” says Bobby Brooke Herrera, assistant professor of global health at the Rutgers Institute for Global Health and lead author of the study.
The researchers’ findings provide insight into factors that may influence global infectious disease outbreak preparedness and responses, including vaccine development.
Topics addressed in the study include: associations between immunity and the African paradox of high SARS-CoV-2 infection with low mortality; high seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Lagos health workers and in the community, indicating potentially higher infection rates than reported.
They also discuss laboratory techniques to examine features of pre-existing immunity to the coronavirus, such as antibodies directed only against the more conserved SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein compared to antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and the spike proteins.
They also include dynamics associated with a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and a heightened antibody response to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine; and detection of viral challenge by examining T cell responses against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein using a new whole blood test.
The results of this study are unique because the data was collected at a critical period during the pandemic. The researchers looked at people’s antibody and T-cell immune responses before and after they were vaccinated. Most people have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 antigens through infection or vaccination, Herrera said.
“However, there are still many unknowns related to COVID-19, and the more we can understand, the better equipped we will be to develop better diagnostics and vaccines for this disease and other infectious diseases,” explains researcher Herrera.
“We are trying to understand if T-cell-based vaccines really do cross-protect. We know they can cross-recognize other coronaviruses, but we don’t know if cross-recognition really means cross-protection. If so, that will potentially lead to a novel strategy. for the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus,” he warns.
