Study shows what it is responsible for

COVID-19 antibodies can last from days to years: a study shows what it is responsible for

The study followed 164 Covid patients for 6-9 months, analyzing their blood for neutralizing antibodies

Singapore:

Antibodies against the novel coronavirus decay at varying degrees, lasting for just days in some individuals, while in others for decades, according to a new study that say that the intensity of COVID-19 could be an important factor in further protection against relapse.

The research, published in the journal Lancet Microbe, noted that patients recovered with low levels of neutral antibodies may be immune to remodeling if they have strong immunity in the form of T cells. group.

In the study, scientists, including those from Duke-NUS School of Medicine in Singapore, followed 164 COVID-19 patients for six to nine months, analyzing their blood for blood. ‘neutralization of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, their T cells and the immune system signaling molecules.

They then used this information to train a machine learning algorithm to predict the symptoms of human neutral antibodies over time.

Based on the analysis, the researchers classified people into five groups according to how long their antibodies lasted.

The first group, they said, included those who had never developed neutralizing antibodies – also known as the ‘negative’ group – and accounted for 11.6 percent of the patients in the study.

Early levels of antibodies were rapidly depleted in the ‘waning waning’ group, which accounted for 26.8 percent of patients, the scientists said.

According to the researchers, the ‘slow-release’ group, which included 29 percent of the participants, performed well-tested for antibodies at six months.

The ‘persistent’ group, comprising 31.7 per cent of the individuals, did not show much change in their antibody levels up to 180 days and, they added, showed that the ‘response delay’ group (1.8 percent) significantly increased in neutralizing antibodies during late recovery.

“The key message of this study is that the longevity of neutral antibodies can counteract SARS-CoV-2 activity and it is important to monitor this at an individual level,” said Dr. Wang Linfa, from Duke-NUS ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Program, corresponding author of the study.

“This work may have an impact on the lifespan of post-vaccination immunity, which will be part of our follow-up studies,” Wang Linfa said.

According to the study, patients, including those from the ‘negative group’, showed stable T-cell immunity six months after the initial infection, indicating that individuals may be immune if they have strong T-cell immunity when the neutral antibody level is low.

“Our study examines neutral antibodies that are important in protection from COVID-19. We found that antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are lacking in different people at different levels,” said the corresponding author of the study David Lye from the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), Singapore.

Based on the results, the scientists emphasized the importance of public and social health measures in the ongoing response of pandemic disease.

They said the presence of T-cell immunity offers hope for long-term protection, adding that more studies are needed to confirm the findings.

Because antibodies decay faster in some people, the scientists believe that re-infection may occur in waves of infection afterwards.

They said if immunity obtained through vaccines also declines as naturally occurring antibodies, annual vaccine administration may be necessary to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19.

However, the researchers said more research is needed to clarify the findings as vaccination programs are distributed worldwide.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published from syndicated food.)

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