Scientists generally recommend against antibody testing after vaccination. But for some people, it makes sense.
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Tag Archives: antibodies
Scientists Report Earliest Known Coronavirus Cases in Five US States
Blood drawn from nine people in the earliest days of the pandemic tested positive for the infection. But some experts questioned the results.
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Scientists Report Earliest Known Coronavirus Infections in Five U.S. States
Blood drawn from nine people in the earliest days of the pandemic tested positive for the infection. But some experts questioned the results.
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Immunity to the Coronavirus May Persist for Years, Scientists Find
Important immune cells survive in the bone marrow of people who were infected with the virus or were inoculated against it, new research suggests.
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Researchers show neutralizing antibodies correlate with COVID protection
Enlarge / Illustration of antibodies (red and blue) responding to an infection with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (purple). (credit: Getty Images)
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of researchers’ nagging questions involved trying to understand what constitutes immunity to future infections. People who had been infected by the virus produced varying amounts of antibodies, and it wasn’t clear what levels were needed to provide protection. Similar issues applied to figuring out how long protection lasted, given that antibody levels appeared to decline over time. Those questions have implications for whether we will eventually need booster shots to maintain our immunity.
The most common way of looking at immunity at the beginning of the pandemic was to check for neutralizing antibodies, which could block the virus’s ability to infect new cells. But we’ve gone through much of the pandemic without knowing exactly how levels of these antibodies relate to protection.
Evidence has been building that neutralizing antibodies directly correlate with protection, and a new paper provides some of the most decisive evidence yet. The authors also provide some hints about the sort of decline in immunity we might expect.
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Covid Vaccines Protect Pregnant Women, Study Confirms
The shots may also have benefits for infants and do not seem to damage the placenta, according to the latest research.
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Vaccines Are Effective Against the New York Variant, Studies Find
The research adds to a growing number of findings suggesting the Pfizer and Moderna shots are protective against the variants identified so far.
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The Covid-19 Plasma Boom Is Over. What Did We Learn From It?
The U.S. government invested $800 million in plasma when the country was desperate for Covid-19 treatments. A year later, the program has fizzled.
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Vaccines Won’t Protect Millions of Patients With Weakened Immune Systems
Many cannot produce enough infection-fighting cells to fend off the coronavirus. But researchers are testing one therapy that may help: monoclonal antibodies.
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Vaccines Won’t Protect Millions of Patients With Crippled Immune Systems
Many cannot produce enough infection-fighting cells to fend off the coronavirus. But researchers are testing one therapy that may help: monoclonal antibodies.
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Blood Clots Linked to AZ Vaccine Stem From Rare Antibody Reaction
New studies from Germany and Norway examined cases involving mostly younger people who developed serious and sometimes fatal blood disorders.
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Vaccinated Mothers Are Trying to Give Babies Antibodies via Breast Milk
Multiple studies show that there are antibodies in a vaccinated mother’s milk. This has led some women to try to restart breastfeeding and others to share milk with friends’ children.
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Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine
A new formulation entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic.
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Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Covid-19 Vaccine
A new formulation entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic.
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My Covid-19 Patients Can’t Get the Treatment They Need
Doctors like me want monoclonal antibodies for our high-risk patients, but the medicine is hard to come by.
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The Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Said to Be Powerfully Protective in Adolescents
A clinical trial found no symptomatic infections among vaccinated children ages 12 to 15, the companies said, and there were no serious side effects. The data have not yet been reviewed by independent experts.
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Pfizer: COVID vaccine shows “100% efficacy” in adolescents 12-15
Enlarge / Jonathan, a 16-year-old teenager, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Clalit Health Services, in Israel’s Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 23, 2021. (credit: Getty | Jack Guez)
Adolescents aged 12 to 15 were completely protected from symptomatic COVID-19 after being vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNtech mRNA vaccine in a small Phase III clinical trial, Pfizer reported in a press release Wednesday.
The company also said that the vaccine was well tolerated in the age group, spurring only the standard side effects seen in people aged 16 to 25. The vaccine is already authorized for use in people aged 16 and over.
The vaccine appeared more effective at spurring defensive immune responses in adolescents aged 12 to 15 than in the 16- to 25-year-old group, producing even higher levels of antibodies that were able to neutralize SARS-CoV-2. In a measure of neutralizing antibodies, vaccinated youths in the new trial had geometric mean titers (GMTs) of 1,239.5, compared with the GMTs of 705.1 previously seen in those aged 16 to 25, Pfizer noted.
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Virus Variants Likely Evolved Inside People With Weak Immune Systems
Growing evidence suggests that people with cancer and other conditions that challenge their immune systems may be incubators of mutant viruses.
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A New Coronavirus Variant Is Spreading in New York, Researchers Report
The variant contains a mutation thought to help the virus dodge the immune system, scientists said.
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Studies Suggest People Who Had Covid-19 Should Get Single Vaccine Dose
New studies show that one shot of a vaccine can greatly amplify antibody levels in those who have recovered from the coronavirus.
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Past coronavirus infections don’t seem to help with SARS-CoV-2
Enlarge / False color image of viruses attached to a cell’s surface. (credit: NIAID)
While the SARS-CoV-2 virus is new to humans, coronaviruses in general aren’t. There have been earlier members of this group of viruses that have raised pandemic fears, while another group regularly circulates widely in humans, causing symptoms of the common cold.
Early on, there were some indications that prior exposure to cold-causing viruses could produce a degree of protection against COVID-19. But back in December, researchers published results indicating that any cross-reactivity against related viruses by T cells was likely to be ineffective. Now, additional results have been published that indicate antibodies raised against cold viruses fail to neutralize SARS-CoV-2.
Memories
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has a number of features that distinguish it from other coronaviruses that have circulated within humans. But it also has plenty of things in common, like its use of RNA as a genetic material and the general layout of its genome. Some of its genes have also picked up very few changes over the course of evolution. As a result, there are some stretches of genes that are identical in cold viruses and SARS-CoV-2.
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Childhood Colds Do Not Prevent Coronavirus Infection, Study Finds
New research casts doubt on the idea that prior infections with garden-variety coronaviruses might shield some people, particularly children, amid the pandemic.
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Could a Single Vaccine Work Against All Coronaviruses?
Scientists are working on a shot that could protect against Covid-19, its variants, certain seasonal colds — and the next coronavirus pandemic.
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Signs that SARS-CoV-2 is evolving to avoid immune responses
Enlarge / The structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. (credit: University of Arkansas)
Over the summer, you could almost hear a sigh of relief rising from the portion of the research community that was tracking the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Viruses, especially those new to their hosts, often pick up mutations that help them adapt to their new habitat, or they evade drugs or immune attacks. But SARS-CoV-2 seemed to be picking up mutations at a relatively sedate pace, in part because its virus-copying enzymes had a feature that lets them correct some errors.
But suddenly, new variants appear to be everywhere, and a number of them appear to increase the threat posed by the virus. A new study helps explain the apparent difference: while new base changes in the virus’ genetic material remain rare, some deletions of several bases appear to have evolved multiple times, indicating that evolution was selecting for them. The research team behind this new work found evidence that these changes alter how the immune system can respond to the virus.
This looks familiar
The researchers’ interest in deletions started with their involvement with an immunocompromised cancer patient, who held off the infection for over two months without being able to clear the virus. Samples obtained from late in the infection revealed two different virus strains that each had a deletion in the gene encoding the spike protein that SARS-CoV-2 uses to attach to and enter cells.
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The Virus Variant Spreading in Britain May Make Vaccines Less Effective, Study Shows
The highly infectious variant has developed a worrisome mutation, new research has found.
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B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant is picking up a worrisome new mutation
As the world races to get vaccines into arms, one of the most concerning coronavirus variants appears to be getting a little more concerning.
Researchers in the UK have detected at least 15 cases of B.1.1.7 variants carrying an additional mutation: E484K, a mutation already seen in other concerning variants and one that may make current vaccines less effective at preventing infection. The B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, is already known to spread more easily among people than earlier strains of the pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. And according to some preliminary evidence, it may cause more severe disease.
So far, B.1.1.7 variants carrying E484K appear rare. On Monday, Public Health England reported in a technical briefing that it had detected E484K in just 11 B.1.1.7 variants among more than 200,000 viruses examined. For now, it’s unclear if the augmented mutants will take off and become dominant in the population or fizzle out. It’s also not entirely clear what the addition of E484K means for B.1.1.7 in people. Preliminary laboratory experiments suggest the mutation alone, and its presence in B.1.1.7 specifically, may help the virus evade immune responses. But more studies and clinical data are necessary to understand the full effect of the new addition.
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Evidence Builds That Pregnant Women Pass Covid Antibodies to Newborns
A new study suggests that protective antibodies can be transferred through the placenta, and the baby may receive more of them if a mother is infected with Covid earlier in her pregnancy.
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How the Coronavirus Turns the Body Against Itself
Some patients struggling with Covid-19 develop antibodies against their own tissues, scientists have found.
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Eli Lilly Claims Drug Prevents Coronavirus Infection in Nursing Homes
A monoclonal antibody protected residents and staff members in facilities where the virus had appeared.
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Drug Prevents Coronavirus Infection in Nursing Homes, Maker Claims
A monoclonal antibody protected residents and staff members in facilities where the virus had appeared.
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Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines
Laboratory studies of mutations circulating in South Africa suggest they may dodge some of the body’s immune responses.
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Study Says Blood Plasma Reduces Risk of Severe Covid-19 if Given Early
Thousands of people received convalescent plasma as an experimental treatment for Covid. A new study shows that it works — but only when given within a few days of the onset of illness.
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Why Covid Antibody Drugs Go Unused as Need Soars
While such treatments are promising, their use has been slowed by testing lags, overwhelmed hospitals and a perception the therapies are only for well-connected people.
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What to Know of Covid-19 Antibody Drugs: Cost, Availability and More
Here’s information about who these therapies can help, how much they cost and how to find out if you can get them where you live.
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The New Covid Strain in the UK: Questions and Answers
A newly identified variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appears to be more contagious than established ones. Here’s what scientists know.
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The Coronavirus Is Mutating. What Does That Mean for Us?
Officials in Britain and South Africa claim new variants are more easily transmitted. There’s a lot more to the story, scientists say.
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Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask
The new vaccines will probably prevent you from getting sick with Covid. No one knows yet whether they will keep you from spreading the virus to others — but that information is coming.
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Antibodies Good. Machine-Made Molecules Better?
With help from computer algorithms, researchers designed proteins from scratch that can trounce the coronavirus in lab animals.
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Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint
Blood samples from recovered patients suggest a powerful, long-lasting immune response, researchers reported.
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China’s New Testing Policy for Travelers Is Problematic, Experts Say
Airline passengers must present negative antibody test results before boarding. Scientists consider it a largely useless way to curb disease transmission.
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New Type of Test May Better Discern Immunity to the Coronavirus
The test detects the response of T cells to the virus — an arm of the immune system that may be just as important as antibodies to preventing reinfection.
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The Children Never Had Covid. So Why Did They Have Coronavirus Antibodies?
A provocative study suggests that certain colds may leave antibodies against the new coronavirus, perhaps explaining why children are more protected than adults.
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Children Produce Weaker Coronavirus Antibodies, Study Finds
The research suggests that children clear the infection much faster than adults and may help explain why many don’t become seriously ill.
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Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Studies Showing Waning Coronavirus Antibodies
Experts say it’s normal for levels of antibodies to drop after clearing an infection, and that they represent just one arm of the immune response against a virus.
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Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus
New research found ‘autoantibodies’ similar to those in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients. But patients may also benefit from treatments for those autoimmune diseases.
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Fighting Covid-19, With Dolly Parton and The Rock
Nothing says Peak 2020 like donating antibodies while watching someone get married on your phone.
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Antibody Treatments, Though Promising, Will Be in Short Supply
All the weak points of American health care — testing delays, communication breakdowns, inequity — are working against this potential treatment.
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How an Ill-Fated Fishing Voyage Helped Us Understand Covid-19
The threat posed by the virus makes randomized controlled trials extremely difficult. That means “real-life experiments” are especially important.
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FDA approves first treatment for Ebola, a Regeneron antibody cocktail
Enlarge / Staff from South Sudan’s Health Ministry pose with protective suits during a drill for Ebola preparedness conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO). (credit: Getty | Patrick Meinhardt)
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued the first-ever approval for a therapy against Ebola virus disease.
Though the Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, earned approval late last year and proved 97.5 percent effective in preliminary trials, the newly approved therapy may be useful in addressing an ongoing outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, which began in June. The FDA’s approval may also boost the outlook for similar therapies being developed for COVID-19, which may become available before a vaccine.
The newly approved Ebola treatment, called Inmazeb (aka REGN-EB3), is a combination of three monoclonal antibodies made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The antibodies target the only protein on the outside of Ebola virus particles, the glycoprotein. Ebola uses its glycoprotein to attach to and enter human cells, sparking infection. The cocktail of antibodies glom on to the protein, keeping it from invading cells.
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Trump May Be Immune to the Coronavirus. But for How Long?
A unique treatment course may have blunted his body’s production of antibodies, scientists warn.
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