Vaccines stimulate the body to produce a permanent response against COVID-19

Published on 01/25/2022 15:40 / Updated on 01/25/2022 15:44

(credit: cloning/la jolla institute of immunology)

New research from the La Jolla Institute of Immunology in the United States, published last Sunday (1/23), indicates that four of the vaccines created to fight the Corona virus (SARS-CoV-2), stimulate the body to produce effective T cells. ..and permanent against disease. The researchers also suggest that these cells can recognize variables such as delta and omicron.

search was Published in the scientific journal cell It mentions vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, J&J/Janssen, and Novavax.

Data from adults who had been vaccinated against the disease but had not yet received a booster dose of the vaccine were analyzed.

“Most neutralizing antibodies, that is, antibodies that work well against the coronavirus, bind to a region called the receptor-binding domain, or RBD,” explained Camila Coelho, one of the authors of the research. “Our study revealed that the 15 mutations in the omicron RBD variant can significantly reduce the binding capacity of memory B cells, compared to other SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Alpha, Beta and Delta,” he said.

According to the researchers, the good news is that neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells are just two pathways of the body’s adaptive immune response. T cells do not prevent disease infection, but they do patrol the body and destroy already infected cells, preventing the virus from multiplying and causing serious disease.

The researchers believe that this “second line of defense” of T cells is one reason why an omicron variant is less likely to cause serious disease in people who have already been vaccinated.

Tracks to Result

To find out whether the T cells produced by the vaccine are really effective against the delta and omicron variants, the scientists looked closely at how the T cells responded to different viral “epipers.” Each virus is made up of proteins that form a specific shape or structure. The viral epitope is a specific landmark in this structure that T cells have been trained to recognize.

Current covid-19 vaccines are designed to teach the immune system to recognize specific epitopes in the Alpha variant – which was the first version of SARS-CoV-2. As the virus mutated, its structure changed and the concern was that immune cells could no longer recognize their targets.

From this, the study shows that although the structure of the omicron variant is different enough to avoid some neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells, memory T cells still do a good job of recognizing their targets, even though the omicron variant is stuffed with mutations. .

However, the researchers caution: You can’t rely solely on T-cell protection, and although possible answers have been shown, everyone’s reaction is still different. “I urge people to continue to be vigilant and to continue to wear masks,” said Alison Tark, one of the study’s authors.