Study identifies antibody from common cold infection that reacts to COVID - The Jerusalem Post

Americans who have had prior exposure to various coronaviruses before the current pandemic, may benefit from a particular antibody that is triggered if they are infected with COVID-19, a new scientific study has found.

A peer-reviewed study published in the academic journal Nature Communications, investigated how the body’s immune system reacted to COVID-19 after it had already been exposed to other coronaviruses that are prevalent in the US and trigger the common cold. At least four such coronaviruses are known to exist in the US.

The study found that the antibody in question reacts not only to SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, but also SARS-CoV-1, which causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

This antibody is likely produced by a memory “b” cell that was previously exposed to the common cold, according to Raiees Andrabi, the study’s senior author, an investigator in the Scripps Research Institute’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology.

These cells are essential parts of the immune system, and function by remembering diseases that had entered the body already.

The study’s findings are significant, as they could not only help pave the way for better vaccines and treatments, but could also help combat future types of coronaviruses that may emerge.

“Another deadly coronavirus will likely emerge again in the future – and when it does, we want to be better prepared,” Prof. Dennis Burton, one of the study’s authors, said, according to News Medical.

“Our identification of a cross-reactive antibody against SARS-CoV-2 and the more common coronaviruses is a promising development on the way to a broad-acting vaccine or therapy,” he said.

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Study identifies antibody from common cold infection that reacts to COVID - The Jerusalem Post
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