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SARS-CoV-2, better known as the ‘new coronavirus’, is just one of a handful of related RNA viruses that cause respiratory diseases of different severity in humans and some animals.
Previous infections by other coronaviruses help the human immune system to fight SARS CoV-2. This is the conclusion reached by a group of researchers from the University of Northern Arizona (NAU) and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), local non-profit organizations.
In their research, scientists used a tailor-made tool created by NAU and TGen called ‘PepSeq’ to fine-tune ‘antibody response to all coronaviruses that infect humans’, ranging from simple symptoms not more serious than those of common colds. , to more serious and potentially fatal people.
What they found was that exposure to previous coronaviruses enhances the human immune system’s ability to fight the new one, with the introduction of the new virus into the body that calls for antibodies to fight the other viruses originally.
“Our results suggest that the COVID-19 virus may evoke an antibody response that exists in humans before the current pandemic, which means that we may already have some immunity to this virus,” said co-author of the study, dr. John Altin, explained. in a press release regarding the study, which was published in Cell Reports Medicine, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Before the new coronavirus, it was known that mankind had invented at least half a dozen other types of coronaviruses.
Therefore, the scientists, together with SARS-CoV-2, studied coronavirus antibody responses to two other dangerous coronaviruses that have recently threatened the world – MERS-CoV, which led to a localized outbreak in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and SARS-CoV -1 – which broke out in Asia in 2003.
Four older, less dangerous and much more common coronaviruses – alpha-coronavirus 229E, alpha-coronavirus NL63, beta-coronavirus OC43 and beta-coronavirus HKU1 were also studied. Mankind has developed high levels of immunity to these viruses, and their symptoms are usually no more severe than those of common colds, causing mild upper respiratory tract infections.
The findings could be very important in giving scientists the knowledge to create new diagnostic tools, study the impact of using recovery plasma as a therapy for Covid-19, and even design new vaccines and antibody therapies that mutate the new coronavirus can move.
‘Our findings highlight sites in which the SARS-CoV-2 response appears to be formed by previous exposure to coronavirus, and which has the potential to broadly neutralize antibodies. We further demonstrate that these cross-reactive antibodies bind preferentially to endemic coronavirus peptides [short chains of amino acids], suggesting that the response to SARS-CoV-2 in these regions may be limited by previous exposure to coronavirus, ”Altin said.
According to the scientists, further studies are needed. For example, research may help explain the broad way in which Covid-19 manifests, with some people experiencing only mild symptoms or even getting asymptomatic through the virus, while others experience severe symptoms or even succumb to complications associated with the disease. .
“Our findings increase the possibility that the nature of an individual’s antibody response to previous endemic coronavirus infection may influence the course of COVID-19 disease,” said Dr. Jason Ladner, lead author of the study, said.
The research also included participation from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a number of other hospitals and research institutions.