The common cold is a type of coronavirus, health experts say, that could prevent you from getting COVID-19 as a severe case of new coronavirus?
A new study published in Science explored this question. Although the researchers felt that it was too early to tell, they found that certain cells in the human body – “memory T cells” – that normally recognize cold coronaviruses, could recognize COVID-19 in some people as well.
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“This may help explain why some people show milder symptoms of coronavirus while others become seriously ill,” said co-author of the study Daniela Weiskopf, Ph.D. in a news release from the University.
The researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) examined memory T cells, which are part of our immune system. The researchers explain in a press release that these cells remember viruses that the body has encountered in a person’s life. When the body is exposed to that virus again, the T cells in the memory are able to identify that foreign invader and activate the immune system to fight it out.
“Immune reactivity can translate into varying degrees of protection,” Alessandro Sette, co-author of the study and LJI professor, said in the release. “Having a strong T-reaction as a better T-reaction can give you the opportunity to give a much faster and stronger response.”
The researchers in the new study collected samples from participants who had never been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to see if they had a cross-over immune response from previous common exposure to cold coronavirus. Their findings showed that participants not exposed to COVID-19 can produce T cells that are equally reactive against SARS-CoV-2 and four other common cold coronaviruses.
Could the common cold help your immune system recognize new coronavirus? (iStock)
“We have now proven that, in some people, pre-existing T-cell memory against common cold coronaviruses SARS-CoV-2 can cross-detect, up to exact molecular structures,” Weiskopf, an LJI research assistant professor, said in the release. .
“We knew there was pre-existing reactivity, and this study provides very strong direct molecular evidence that T-memory sequences can ‘see’ sequences that are very similar between normal cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2,” Sette added.
The new study expanded on an earlier report by LJI Professor Shane Crotty, Ph.D., and the Sette Lab that found 40 to 60% of people who had never been exposed to COVID-19 had T cells that responded on the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the news release explained. Similar research results were published worldwide, including a study from Singapore.
The researchers found that although some cross-reactive T cells target the SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein, that is, how the virus binds to human cells over time, the pre-existing memory T cells are also targeted. on other SARS-CoV-2 proteins, according to the release. Co-study author Sette said this is significant because most vaccine candidates target the spike protein in particular, and taking advantage of this cross-reactivity to other proteins could potentially improve vaccine potential.
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Sette said the study’s findings are speculative and require much more data.
“The jury is still out (some would say the trial has not even begun yet) on this case,” Drs. Aaron E. Glatt, an epidemiologist, and a friend of the Infectious Diseases Society of America to Fox News in an email.
“Very preliminary, although very interesting studies suggest that there may be some benefit, and some papers have even suggested that prior exposure to influencing could provide some protection, but I would certainly not rely on a prior infection to take on important immunity. COVID-19 at this time, “warned Glatt, who is also a professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine on Mount Sinai.” Everyone still needs to mask appropriate and masked distance. “
