Your body has remembered the common cold coronavirus since childhood. How can I get the same immunity to COVID-19? COVID-19 boosters may lead to stable antibody and T cell populations over the next few years-ScienceDaily

According to a recently published new LJI study Cell hosts and microorganismsAdults exhibit a stable memory response of antibodies and T cells that fight CCC, probably resulting from multiple exposures to CCC in childhood. Thanks to this immune cell army, CCC infections in adulthood tend to be rare and mild.

These findings may provide clues as to how immunity is built against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and are available today to key researchers. We believe that COVID-19 booster shots may be important for long-term immunity.

What do coronaviruses have in common?

More and more people are suffering from breakthrough infections and reinfections due to the looseness of the Omicron 5 subvariant.

“Everyone is wondering where this goes. Do we need to keep getting boosters or redesign our vaccines?” Says Dr. Biol. Sci, Professor of LJI Alessandro Sette.

With these big questions, Sette and his colleagues wondered if the coronavirus poses a special challenge to the immune system. Since SARS-CoV-2 has been in circulation for only two years and has continued to evolve during that time, researchers instead examined the long-term immunological memory of the common cold coronavirus.

To avoid confusing the data, they needed to analyze samples from people who had never been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Fortunately, they took blood samples for a previous study initiated at LJI prior to the pandemic. All patients in this group were young adults and it was safe to presume that they had multiple exposures to CCC.

Well-trained immune cells remember the coronavirus

As anyone with a small child knows, a common cold seems to hit young children many times. These childhood illnesses promote strong immunological memory. As children pass through the reproductive gauntlets of early childhood education, their immune system goes to school as well.

Researchers have found that adults have stable immunological memory and tend to catch CCC only about every eight years. “The immune response is very stable and durable over time,” said Dr. Ricardo Da Silva Antunes, an LJI instructor who co-led the study with Sette.

Although SARS-CoV-2 differs from CCC, it has many structural similarities, and previous studies at LJI suggest that the immune system recognizes similarities between different coronaviruses. ..

In a new study, LJI researchers also showed that healthy adult antibodies and T cells in this group could cross-react with SARS-CoV-2. This cross-reactivity may actually help protect a person from severe COVID-19, and this finding reinforces the idea that the immune system sees CCC and SARS-CoV-2 in a similar manner. ..

If the pattern seen in CCC immunity applies to SARS-CoV-2, the frequency of reinfection should decrease over time and the symptoms of COVID-19 should be less severe as more immunity is built in the population. .. The rise of the new SARS-CoV-2 mutant can complicate the process of building immunity, but “there is certainly a reason to assume that this will be the end result, but it is still there. No, “says Sette.

Don’t lower your defense-yet

There is a good chance that SARS-CoV-2 will stay here. Pathogens that maintain stable levels in the community and do not cause daily confusion are called “endemic”. However, endemic disease remains a threat. Influenza is endemic and most people do not develop life-threatening cases of influenza, but the flu virus killed 53,544 Americans (and less than usual) in 2020 alone. ..

Sette and Da Silva Antunes emphasize that the endemic SARS-CoV-2 remains serious. Based on data on CCC immunity, they agree that the best strategy at the moment is to keep booster shots up to date.

“At this stage of the pandemic, we are still increasing resistance to SARS-CoV-2,” says Da Silva Antunes.

“Getting a vaccine booster is very important. It’s the third and fourth dose,” Sette adds.

An additional author of the study, “Immune Memory Against Common Cold Coronavirus, Longitudinal Assessment Over the Three Years Before the COVID 19 Pandemic,” includes Esther Dawen Yu, Tara M. Narowski, Eric Wang, and Emily Garrigan. , Jose Mateus, April Frazier, Daniela are included. Weiskov, Albagriphoni, Laxman Prem Kumar.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (Grants U01AI141995, U19AI142742 and U54CA260543; and Contract No. 75N93019C00065) of the National Institute of Health.