A new study compared blood samples collected before the pandemic with those from people infected with COVID-19. Levels of an antibody generated by immune system cells called memory B cells were higher in samples from COVID-19 survivors. These antibodies have been circulating in the blood for years, “remember” diseases and are put back into action if the threat returns, according to Daily Mail.-
Researchers say the findings could help scientists develop a vaccine or antibody treatment to protect against all coronaviruses.
An antibody that develops after a cold can neutralize the virus that causes COVID-19, a new study suggests.
Both the common cold and SARS-CoV-2 belong to a family known as coronaviruses, which cause upper respiratory tract diseases.
However, it was believed that antibodies that react to common coronaviruses do not work against the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.
But in the blood samples of those who went through COVID-19, the researchers found high levels of immune cells caused by common colds, which “remember” this type of disease and become active when the threat returns.
The team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, says the findings could help scientists develop a vaccine or antibody treatment to protect against all coronaviruses.
The team found that the antibody is produced by a type of immune system cell known as a memory B cell.
Memory B cells block the surface of invading pathogens and mark them for destruction by other immune cells.
They can also circulate in the blood for years – even decades – and the immune system can use them if there is another infection.
For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the team analyzed blood samples from pre-pandemic and pandemic participants.
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“By examining blood samples collected before the pandemic and comparing them with samples from people with COVID-19, we were able to identify the types of antibodies that cross-reacted with benign coronaviruses as well as SARS-CoV-2,” he said. lead author Dr. Raiees Andrabi, investigator in the Scripps Department of Immunology and Microbiology, for Medical News.
The results showed that the levels of memory B cell antibodies were higher in the blood samples of people who were infected with COVID-19 than in those who did not go through the disease.
The team says this suggests that exposure to a non-severe coronavirus may stimulate antibody production when the person is infected with a more severe coronavirus.
Antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-1
Tests showed that the antibody also neutralized SARS-CoV-1, the coronavirus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and a cousin of COVID-19.
“We were able to establish that this type of cross-reactivity antibody is probably produced by a memory B cell that is initially exposed to a coronavirus that causes the common cold and is then reactivated during a COVID-19 infection,” Andrabi told News Medical.
Co-author Dr. Dennis Burton, president of Scripps’ Department of Immunology and Microbiology, said the discovery is important for understanding how to protect against future coronaviruses.
“Another deadly coronavirus is likely to reappear in the future – and when it does, we want to be better prepared,” Burton told News Medical. The identification of a cross-reactive antibody against SARS-CoV-2 and more common coronaviruses is a promising development in the development of a vaccine or a broad-acting therapy.
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