CROSS REACTIVE CORONA VIRUS ANTIBODY

CROSS REACTIVE CORONA VIRUS ANTIBODY

Subject : Science & tech

Context : In a new study that appears in Nature Communications, scientists investigated how the immune system’s previous exposure to cold-causing coronaviruses impact immune response to Covid-19

Concept :

• Besides SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, there are other coronaviruses that people are exposed to. Some of them cause less severe illnesses, such as the common cold.
• They discovered one cross-reactive coronavirus antibody that’s triggered during a Covid-19 infection.
• In later tests, the antibody also neutralised SARS-CoV-1, the coronavirus that causes SARS.
• The researchers determined that this type of cross-reactive antibody is likely produced by a memory B cell that’s initially exposed to a coronavirus that causes the common cold, and is then recalled during a COVID-19 infection.
• Memory B cells “remember” initial disease threats and can circulate in the bloodstream for decades, ready to be called back into action if the threat emerges again.
• These cells are responsible for producing targeted antibodies.