Nature: Immune cells resist the "essential" elements of COVID-19

December 8, 2020 // -- Since the emergence of the new coronavirus late last year, immunologists around the world have been working to develop vaccines to prevent COVID-19 and end the global pandemic.
As of November 2020, three pharmaceutical companies had released early data showing that their vaccines were highly protected in Human Trials Phase 3, but questions remain about how the human body develops and remains immune after vaccination or infection. dan Barouch, director of the
BIDMC Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, and colleagues published a new paper in the journal Nature that sheds light on the role of antibodies and immune cells in rhesus monkeys in protecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
study, we defined the role of antibodies and T-cells in the protection of COVID-19 in monkeys," barouch said.
we report that relatively low antibody titration (antibody concentrations in the blood) is needed to protect this knowledge, which is critical to the development of next-generation vaccines, antibody-based therapies, and public health strategies for COVID-19.
" (Image source: www.pixabay.com) Based on previous findings, SARS-CoV-2 infection protects rhesus monkeys from re-infection.
Barouch and his colleagues purified and collected antibodies from animals recovering from infection.
they tested various concentrations of antibodies on 12 unoptid macaques and observed dose-dependent protective effects against SARS-CoV-2 attacks.
that received more antibodies were more thoroughly protected, while animals that received a smaller amount of antibodies were less protected.
similarly, when researchers gave different concentrations of purified antibodies to six monkeys with active SARS-CoV-2 infection, higher doses of macaques showed faster viral control.
In the second group of experiments, Barouch and colleagues evaluated the role of specific immune cells (CD8-T cells), a method that helps fight the virus by removing them from animals recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infections.
removal of these immune cells makes animals vulnerable to infection after re-exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
data determine the role of antibodies and T-cells in monkeys against COVID-19, " said Barouch, a lawyer at the U.S. Government.
antibodies alone, including relatively low levels, but if antibody levels are low, T-cells can also help.
Given the latest successful vaccine results from human trials and the likelihood that these and other vaccines will be widely used in the spring, this protective correlation is important;
() Source: Researchers define immune system's requirements for protection against COVID-19 Original source: Katherine McMahan et al, Correlates of again protectionst SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03041-6。