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SARS-CoV-2, better known simply as the ‘new coronavirus’, is just one of a handful of related RNA viruses that cause respiratory diseases of varying severity between humans and some animals.
Previous infections with other coronaviruses help the human immune system fight SARS CoV-2. This is the conclusion of a group of researchers from Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), a local non-profit organization.
In their research, the scientists used a personalized tool created by NAU and TGen called ‘PepSeq’ to “accurately map antibody responses to all human infective coronaviruses”, ranging from simple ones that cause symptoms no more serious than those of a common cold, for the most serious and potentially deadly.
What they found was that exposure to previous coronaviruses appears to improve the human immune system’s ability to fight the new one, with the introduction of the new virus into the body by calling for antibodies originally created to fight other viruses.
“Our results suggest that the COVID-19 virus may trigger an antibody response that existed in humans before our current pandemic, which means that we may already have some degree of pre-existing immunity to this virus,” explained the study’s co-author, Dr John Altin in a press release about the study, which was published in Cell Reports Medicine, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Before the new coronavirus, it is known that humanity was introduced to at least half a dozen other types of coronavirus.
So, together with SARS-CoV-2, scientists studied the responses of coronavirus antibodies to two other dangerous coronaviruses that recently threatened the world – MERS-CoV, which led to an outbreak located in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and SARS -CoV-1 – which had an outbreak in Asia in 2003.
Four older, less dangerous and much more prevalent coronaviruses – alpha-coronavirus 229E, alpha-coronavirus NL63, betacoronavirus OC43 and betacoronavirus HKU1 were also studied. Humanity has developed high levels of immunity to these viruses, with their symptoms generally no more severe than those of the common cold, causing mild respiratory infections.
The findings can be extremely important in giving scientists the knowledge to create new diagnostic tools, study the impact of using convalescent plasma as a therapy for Covid-19, and even develop new vaccines and antibody therapies that can combat mutations in the new coronavirus.
“Our findings highlight the places where the response to SARS-CoV-2 appears to be shaped by previous exposures to the coronavirus and which have the potential to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies. We also demonstrate that these cross-reactive antibodies preferentially bind to endemic coronavirus peptides [short chains of amino acids], suggesting that the response to SARS-CoV-2 in these regions may be restricted by previous exposure to the coronavirus, ”said Altin.
Scientists say more studies are needed. The research could, for example, help explain the broad way in which Covid-19 manifests itself, with some people experiencing only mild symptoms or even having the virus totally asymptomatic, while others face 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 endemic coronavirus infection may impact the course of COVID-19 disease,” said Dr. Jason Ladner, lead author of the study.
The research also included participation by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and several other hospitals and research institutions.