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New study: Why the booster vaccination also works against omicron

2022-04-23T09:27:35.383Z


New study: Why the booster vaccination also works against omicron Created: 04/23/2022, 11:14 am By: Felix Durach US researchers have gained further insight into why a booster vaccination against the corona virus also protects against a severe course in the omicron variant. © Jörg Carstensen/dpa A booster vaccination also protects against a severe course after an omicron infection. US researche


New study: Why the booster vaccination also works against omicron

Created: 04/23/2022, 11:14 am

By: Felix Durach

US researchers have gained further insight into why a booster vaccination against the corona virus also protects against a severe course in the omicron variant.

© Jörg Carstensen/dpa

A booster vaccination also protects against a severe course after an omicron infection.

US researchers are now providing further insights into the background.

New York City - The vaccine against the coronavirus was expected at the beginning of last year as a kind of savior to finally give the world a long-awaited way out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Especially at the beginning of the vaccination campaign, full vaccination greatly reduced the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus.

This situation changed at the latest with the increased occurrence of the omicron variant in winter 2021.

At Omikron, significantly more breakthrough infections with the coronavirus can be observed in the population.

Even a booster vaccination with the mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Biontech/Pfizer can no longer prevent infection with the omicron variant as reliably as with the previous variants.

This also seems logical from the point of view that the corona vaccine was developed on the basis of the parent virus and could not be adjusted to future mutations.

It is all the more surprising, however, that an extremely mild course of the disease can usually be observed in boosted patients.

A research team from the USA has now provided an attempt to explain this in a new study.

Corona virus: US study shows - that's why the booster vaccination also protects against omicron

In a new study, a research team from Rockefeller University in the US state of New York has dealt with the question of why a booster vaccination can prevent severe courses of the omicron variant.

To do this, the authors, led by physician Michel Nussenzweig, examined blood samples from 42 people aged between 23 and 78 who had each received three doses of an mRNA vaccine.

As part of the study, the researchers took blood from the subjects after the first, second and third dose and then analyzed the samples obtained.

The results were published in the journal Nature on April 21.

  • The study was carried out by a team of scientists from Rockefeller University led by Michel Nussenzweig.

  • The results were published in the journal Nature on April 21, 2022 under the title "Increased Memory B Cell Potency and Breadth After a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Boost".

  • 42 volunteers between the ages of 23 and 78 who had each received three doses of an mRNA vaccine were examined.

    Eight participants received the Moderna vaccine and the other 34 received the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine.

  • After each dose, blood samples were taken from the subjects, which were then examined.

Unlike in previous studies, Nussenzweig's team examined memory B cells and not the cytotoxic T cells that are otherwise the focus.

The latter can recognize and kill the body's own cells that are infected by the virus.

B memory cells, on the other hand, contain the same encoded recognition sequences as the plasma cells responsible for antibody production.

Although memory B cells cannot produce antibodies themselves, they remain in the body for a very long time.

In a breakthrough infection, memory B cells can proliferate and produce new plasma cells, which in turn produce new antibodies against the virus.

Booster vaccination against coronavirus: number of B memory cells significantly higher

In their study, the scientists have now been able to prove that the number of B memory cells increases enormously after the third vaccination compared to the second dose.

The antibodies produced after a booster vaccination also showed greater breadth and efficiency in fighting the coronavirus.

The authors justify the observation by saying that the antibodies that can be produced by the memory B cells after a third vaccination attack more areas of the receptor-binding domain of the virus.

Patients who have received a booster vaccination thus have a higher number of effective memory B cells, which in the event of a breakthrough infection can form new plasma cells, which in turn quickly and effectively produce antibodies that can also fight the omicron variant.

However, breakthrough infection itself cannot always be prevented.

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fd)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-23

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