HomeLifestyleHealth & FitnessThese people may be more protected against Omicron than others, study says

These people may be more protected against Omicron than others, study says

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Antibodies generated by the immune system against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can help detect and prevent subsequent infections, but not all antibodies are the same.

People who recovered with COVID-19 early in the pandemic or who received a current vaccine may be unable to combat new and developing strains.

However, researchers reveal this week in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, that combining the two can build a more robust response.

People who have had an illness and gotten a vaccine, according to the study, have high-quality antibodies that work against spike variations more efficiently than either group alone.

“It shows that antibody quality can improve over time, and not just quantity,” says Otto Yang, an immunologist and physician at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles.

Finding the best antibody combination could help guide future preventive efforts.

“It fits into understanding what the optimal vaccination regimen is,” adds Yang.

The pandemic is still spreading, in part, because when the coronavirus spike protein evolves—which helps the virus infiltrate a host cell—new varieties emerge that let the infection spread easier from person to person.

As a result, antibodies generated following an early infection or immunization may not properly defend the body against these newer developing strains.

The receptor-binding domain, or RBD, of the spike protein, allows the virus to infiltrate a host cell. This region is likewise a significant target for antibodies, but because of random mutations in the RBD, it is a constantly changing target. Yang and his colleagues compared the ability of anti-RBD antibodies in participants’ blood to the ability of the antibodies to kill the virus in the current study.

The researchers discovered antibodies that were less effective against mutations in the new variants (such as Beta or Gamma) than they were against the original genetic sequence encoded in the vaccination in uninfected patients who had received one of two COVID-19 vaccines.

Similarly, when the researchers investigated blood samples from persons who had been infected with the coronavirus before May 2020—before the first confirmation of variants—they found that their effectiveness against newer variants was lower than that of the original.

These findings imply that both mild illness and immunization create antibodies that make a person susceptible to new variations.

However, the results were substantially different for people who were sick before May 2020 and then immunized a year later. The researchers discovered antibodies in these previously infected, vaccinated patients that were unaltered in efficacy against the original sequence—but just as strong against new versions. Yang said the findings are consistent with earlier this year’s findings by other studies, which also demonstrate high-quality antibodies in persons who have been sick and vaccinated.

“We might have predicted that antibodies would continue to evolve and get better with multiple exposures,” says Yang, “but we didn’t expect it to happen that fast.”

According to Yang, studies like this one that reveal how antibodies change in quality could help researchers improve the implementation of vaccinations and boosters—not just for COVID-19, but for the next virus that emerges.

Source: 10.1128/mBio.02656-21

Image Credit: Getty

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