The results of a new study suggest that the immune systems of people infected with Covid-19 may be dependent on antibodies formed at infections from earlier coronaviruses (except SARS-CoV-2) to help fight the disease.
The study sought to understand how coronaviruses ignite the human immune system and dive deeper into the inner workings of the antibody response. The published findings appear in Cell Medicine Reports.
This knowledge could help researchers design new diagnoses, evaluate the healing powers of convalescent plasma, develop new therapeutic therapies and – importantly – help design vaccines in the world. future or monoclonal antibody therapies capable of protecting against possible mutations in the Covid-19 virus.
The researchers used a tool called PepSeq to neatly map antibody responses for all human-induced coronaviruses. PepSeq is a state-of-the-art technology being developed at the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Northern Arizona University.
In addition to SARS-CoV-2, researchers examined antibody responses from two other potentially lethal coronaviruses: MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-1.
Source: University of Northern Arizona