LONDON: Some secretions in the novel coronavirus may not only allow it to avoid antibodies, but also make the virus unknown to T-killer cells of the immune system, says a study new that may help further the development of vaccines.
While antibodies secrete directly on viruses to neutralize them, the scientists, including those from the Vienna Medical University in Austria, said that T-killer cells recognize viral protein fragments on infectious cells and then kill them to stop virus production.
In the current study, published in the journal Cell Immunology, the researchers ordered 750 genomes of the novel coronavirus from individuals and analyzed mutations for their ability to modify T cell epitopes.
These are regions of the virus that are recognized by the body ‘s T cells.
“Our results show that many mutations in SARS-CoV-2 are indeed capable of doing this,” said study co-author Andreas Bergthaler.
“With the help of bioinformatic and biochemical studies as well as laboratory tests with blood cells from COVID-19 patients, we were able to show that mutated viruses can no longer be identified by T-killer cells in these regions,” Bergthaler said .
According to the researchers, several epitopes are available for identification by T-killer cells in most natural diseases, and if the virus moves in one place, there may be other sites on its surface still appears to be in T cells.
They said that the virus’ s spike protein, which it uses to enter cells and which most vaccines target, is, on average, one to six of these T cell epitopes there.
“If the virus moves in one of these regions, there is a risk that the T-cells will not be identified by the infected cells,” explained Johannes Huppa, another co-author of the study.
“Especially for the further development of vaccines, so we need to monitor closely the movement of the virus and the mutations that are common in the world.
Right now, we are only seeing a few signs that mutations in the killer T cell killer epitope are increasingly spreading, ”said Judith Aberle, another of the study’s co-authors from the University of Medicine Vienna.
The scientists believe the findings provide important insights into how the novel coronavirus interacts with the immune system.
“Furthermore, this experience helps to develop more effective vaccines with the ability to activate as many T-killer cells as possible through different epitopes,” the scientists said. .
“The goal of vaccines that stimulate the neutralization of cell and T antibody responses is for the widest possible protection,” they wrote in the study.