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Exposure to Harmless Coronaviruses Boosts COVID-19 Immunity - SciTechDaily
Nov 23, 2021 1 min, 51 secs

Strong antibody responses against harmless coronaviruses also partially protect against SARS-CoV-2.

Infections with the novel coronavirus and vaccination lead to strong antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2.

Immune responses to other human coronaviruses, which mostly only cause harmless colds, also provide some protection against SARS-CoV-2.

This cross-reactive immune response is an important piece of the puzzle of how to achieve comprehensive coronavirus immunity, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown.

A team of researchers led by the University of Zurich (UZH) has now discovered another component that contributes to SARS-CoV-2 immunity – previous antibody responses to other, harmless coronaviruses.

“People who have had strong immune responses to other human coronaviruses also have some protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” says Alexandra Trkola, head of the Institute of Medical Virology at UZH.

In their study, the researchers used a specially developed assay to analyze antibody levels against four other human coronaviruses in 825 serum samples taken before SARS-CoV-2 emerged.

The researchers were able to demonstrate that people who caught SARS-CoV-2 had lower levels of antibodies against coronaviruses that cause common colds compared to uninfected people.

In addition, people with high levels of antibodies against harmless coronaviruses were less likely to have been hospitalized after catching SARS-CoV-2.

“Our study shows that a strong antibody response to human coronaviruses increases the level of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

So someone who has gained immunity to harmless coronaviruses is therefore also better protected against severe SARS-CoV-2 infections,” says Trkola.

Strong antibody responses against harmless coronaviruses also partially protect against SARS-CoV-2.

“Of course, immune responses targeting SARS-CoV-2 that are mounted by the memory cells are far more effective than cross-reactive responses.

But even though the protection isn’t absolute, cross-reactive immune responses shorten the infection and reduce its severity.

Whether immunity to SARS-CoV-2 – achieved through vaccination, for example – also offers protection against other human coronaviruses still needs to be elucidated.

“If SARS-CoV-2 immunity also offers some degree of protection from infection with other coronaviruses, we would be a significant step closer to achieving comprehensive protection against other coronaviruses, including any new variants,” the virologist explains.

Reference: “Multifactorial seroprofiling dissects the contribution of pre-existing human coronaviruses responses to SARS-CoV-2 immunity” by Irene A.

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