SHARE ON: |
| |
| |
 |
 |
|
|
The emergence of coronavirus variants has provoked concern about their impact on the effectiveness of vaccines, and whether people who were previously infected might be more susceptible to reinfection.
But in welcome news, a new study on Tuesday showed that a key player in the immune response, called the killer T cell, remained mostly unaffected.
The finding is encouraging because although these white blood cells are not a first line defense against infection, they can help prevent severe disease.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University analyzed blood samples from 30 people who had contracted and recovered from COVID-19 prior to the emergence of variants.
They published their findings in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, an Oxford University Press journal.
The team wanted to know whether these cells, known by their technical name CD8+ T cells, could still recognize three variants of SARS-CoV-2: B.1.1.7, first found in Britain, B.1.351, identified in South Africa, and B.1.1.248, first seen in Brazil.
What makes each of these variants unique is the mutations they carry, especially in a region of the virus spike protein, structures that stud its surface and allow it to invade cells.
It has already been shown that mutations to this region of the spike protein make some variants less recognizable to neutralizing antibodies -- infection fighting proteins produced by the immune systems B cells.
This seems to be particularly true, for instance, of B.1.351, according to research on the impact of current generation COVID-19 vaccines.
Neutralizing antibodies are custom-made to fit an antigen, or a specific structure of a pathogen.
In the case of the coronavirus, this is the spike protein, which the antibodies bind to, preventing the virus from infecting cells.
Killer T cells, on the other hand, look for telltale signs of cells that have already been infected with pathogens they have previously encountered, and then kill those cells.
In the new study, the researchers found that the killer T cell responses remained largely intact and could recognize virtually all mutations in the variants studied.
The researchers noted that larger studies are needed to confirm the results, but said that it nevertheless demonstrated that killer T cells are less susceptible to mutations in the coronavirus than neutralizing antibodies are.
Antibodies are still important to prevent infection in the first place -- and the reduced efficacy of vaccines to the variants seems to be evidence of this.
But a killer T cell response that kicks in later and aids in clearing off the disease, helps explain why the vaccines seem to be able to prevent severe disease and hospitalization, even though their efficacy at stopping infection by variants is reduced.
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
4 am |
| 9 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 15 KM/H
GUSTING TO 34 KM/H |
|
|
 |
5 am |
| 9 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 36 KM/H |
|
|
|
6 am |
| 10 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 20 KM/H
GUSTING TO 44 KM/H |
|
|
 |
7 am |
| 11 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 22 KM/H
GUSTING TO 48 KM/H |
|
|
|
8 am |
| 13 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 25 KM/H
GUSTING TO 41 KM/H |
|
|
|
9 am |
| 16 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: SSE 31 KM/H
GUSTING TO 54 KM/H |
|
|
|
10 am |
| 18 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: SE 27 KM/H
GUSTING TO 45 KM/H |
|
|
 |
11 am |
| 20 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
WIND: SSE 26 KM/H
GUSTING TO 36 KM/H |
|
|
|
|
TODAY |
HIGH OF 21 ℃
LOW OF 9 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
WEDNESDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 8 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
THURSDAY |
HIGH OF 14 ℃
LOW OF 9 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
FRIDAY |
HIGH OF 13 ℃
LOW OF 7 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
SATURDAY |
HIGH OF 19 ℃
LOW OF 8 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
SUNDAY |
HIGH OF 19 ℃
LOW OF 11 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
MONDAY |
HIGH OF 19 ℃
LOW OF 10 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
TUESDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 10 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
LITTLE BIG TOWN
WHISKEY COLORED EYES
04:32 AM |
|
 |
JOJO MASON
JUST LIKE YOU
04:29 AM |
|
 |
DUSTIN LYNCH
EASY TO LOVE
04:26 AM |
|
 |
JASON ALDEAN
DONT GIVE UP ON ME
04:22 AM |
|
 |
RASCAL FLATTS
LOOKING BACK
04:19 AM |
|
 |
CHASE WRIGHT
TILL YOU COME OVER
04:16 AM |
|
 |
KEITH URBAN
WASTED TIME
04:10 AM |
|
 |
DAN AND SHAY
GLAD YOU EXIST
04:08 AM |
|
 |
PRISCILLA BLOCK
HE IS MY MAN
04:04 AM |
|
 |
CHRIS CUMMINGS
BETTY
04:00 AM |
|
 
 
 |
