UT Health San Antonio scientists compared lead to less-severe and serious COVID-19 cases one and 5 months after sign beginning.
Infection- combating B cells keep much better memory of the coronavirus spike protein in University Hospital clients who recuperate from less-severe cases of COVID-19 than in those recuperating from serious COVID-19, a brand-new research study recommends. Findings by researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio were released on December 22, 2021, in the journal PLOS ONE.
Evelien Bunnik, PhD, corresponding author of the paper, stated the outcomes tip of subtle distinctions in the quality of immune reaction based upon COVID-19 intensity.Dr Bunnik is an assistant teacher of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genes at the health science center, likewise described as UT Health San Antonio.
The research study concentrated on memory B cells that respond versus the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Blood samples were examined one month after sign beginning and 5 months post-onset. After one month, a considerable percentage of spike-specific B cells were active.
However, samples from 8 people who recuperated from less-severe illness revealed increased expression of markers related to resilient B cell memory as compared to people who recuperated from serious illness, the authors composed. The markers consist of T-bet and FcRL5.
T-bet-positive, spike-specific B cells almost vanished from the blood samples 5 months post-symptom beginning, the authors kept in mind. Overall, a more inefficient B cell reaction is seen in serious illness cases, they composed.
Non- serious cases were specified as not needing extra oxygen or intrusive ventilation, while serious cases required intrusive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). “The definition of severe disease was made based on the need for mechanical ventilation or ECMO, because this distinguishes the most critical patients, who are the most likely to develop impaired immune responses,” stated research study senior author Thomas Patterson, MD, teacher and chief of contagious illness at UT Health San Antonio who leads COVID-19 care at medical partner University Health.
Study individuals were registered in the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT) -1 or ACTT-2 medical trials. Samples were from University Health clients co-enrolled in the UT Health San Antonio COVID-19 Repository.
“The increased percentage of B cells associated with long-lived immunity in non-severe COVID-19 patients may have consequences for long-term immunity against SARS-CoV-2 re-infection or severity of the resulting disease,” the authors composed.
Reference: “SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific memory B cells express higher levels of T-bet and FcRL5 after non-severe COVID-19 as compared to severe disease” by Raphael A. Reyes, Kathleen Clarke, S. Jake Gonzales, Angelene M. Cantwell, Rolando Garza, Gabriel Catano, Robin E. Tragus, Thomas F. Patterson, Sebastiaan Bol and Evelien M. Bunnik, 22 December 2021, PLOS One
DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0261656
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a COVID-19 pilot award from the UT Health San Antonio Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine (10009547 toDr Evelien Bunnik). Raphael A. Reyes was supported by Translational Science Training award TL1 TR002647 Data were created in the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource Facility, which is supported by UT Health San Antonio, NIH-NCI P30 CA054174-20 (Mays Cancer Center, house to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson) and UL1 TR001120 (Clinical Translational Science Award grant). The funders had no function in research study style, information collection and analysis, choice to release, or preparation of the manuscript.
