In a study, researchers at the Charité are investigating the connection between previous colds and the immune defense against corona - with astonishing results.
Berlin - Researchers made a surprising observation last year: patients who had never come into contact with Covid-19 had special cells.
They recognized the novel corona virus.
This can be explained by the fact that the memory immune cells or so-called T helper cells had to deal with more harmless corona-like cold viruses in advance.
The Charité University Clinic in Berlin reports on this in an official press release.
Corona study by the Berlin Charité: researchers make surprising observation
The research team carried out the study in mid-2020 on around 800 people who had not previously come into contact with the coronavirus and analyzed their immune systems. It was checked at regular intervals whether they had been infected with the pathogen, which was the case with 17 people. Their immune defense showed that the body had formed T cells against corona-like cold viruses. These also fought Sars-CoV-2. So far, four different types of coronavirus are known in medicine, which make up around 30 percent of all colds.
The cells recognized a certain area of the spike protein particularly frequently.
"In the case of colds with more harmless coronaviruses, the immune system builds up a kind of universal, protective coronavirus memory," explained Claudia Giesecke-Thiel, lead author of the study.
"If it comes into contact with Sars-CoV-2, such memory cells are activated again and now also attack the new pathogen."
Charité - University Medicine Berlin |
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Founding: |
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6,992 (as of 2010) |
Current study shows: previous colds can protect against corona pathogens
Due to the similar structure, the T cells can fight the new virus.
Despite this groundbreaking discovery, it remains unclear how these immune cells could influence the course of a later infection with Sars-CoV-2.
A cross reaction of the T helper cells can have a positive but also negative effect in the event of infection with a similar virus strain.
On the one hand, the immune system can be prepared for a new infection, on the other hand, a misdirected immune response and an aggravated course of the disease could be the result.
The researchers from Berlin support the positive variant.
A current study from Great Britain shows how diverse the corona symptoms can be.
Among other things, the symptoms can differ between people who have been vaccinated against corona and those who have not been vaccinated.
Study by the Charité: rapid antibody formation after corona vaccination
An immune-boosting effect was also demonstrated with a Covid vaccination with the mRNA vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer.
The scientists analyzed the immune reactions of 31 healthy people before and after the injection.
The results showed that the cross-reacting T-helper cells responded quickly to the vaccination within a week.
Among other things, this had a positive effect on the formation of antibodies against Corona *.
"Even with the vaccination, the body can at least partially fall back on an immune memory if it has already suffered colds with endemic coronaviruses," said Professor Andreas Thiel from the Berlin Charité. However, that does not mean that you are inevitably protected from Covid-19 by previous colds. "A vaccination is important in any case," emphasized Giesecke-Thiel. (Alina Schröder)
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