T-cells can fight Omicron when antibodies fail to, Australian researchers say

[zaax]

theguardian.com/australia-n...

[AussieNeil Partner Founder Admin]

Nice Christmas present from Chinese and Australian research!

"Overall, given that most of the experimental T cell epitopes known to be targeted in vaccinated and/or previously infected individuals (collectively, accounting for ~60% of the global population as of 25 December 2021 [22]) are unaffected by Omicron mutations, our preliminary analysis suggests that the effectiveness of pre-existing T cell immunity will remain intact.

:

Emerging data is suggestive of a reduced risk of hospitalisation and death from Omicron [26,27]; however, the degree to which pre-existing T cell immunity is contributing to this still needs to be clearly established."

Thanks,

Neil

[zaax in reply to AussieNeil]

Thank you for pulling the revenant bits from these scholarly reports

[virdieblue in reply to AussieNeil]

I'd love to believe in T- cells but where have they been in this crisis? An ignorant comment yes, but have we seen lives saved or illness ameliorated? Virginia (in lock down again)

[bennevisplace]

Thanks for the link to this article, which some will have noticed contains a link to a related article about a T cell vaccine in development theguardian.com/society/202... If it works and enters general use, it will be interesting to see how may anti-patchers come out of the woodwork...

Meanwhile, the rise to stardom of VIR-7831, aka Sotrovimab aka Xevudy, has obscured the potential of a sister monoclonal antibody treatment in development, engineered to generate a strong T-cell response:

"The latest candidate to be tested, VIR-7832, will be given to patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have mild to moderate symptoms. Based on pre-clinical data, VIR-7832 has three potential mechanisms of action: it can neutralize the virus; target already infected cells for destruction by our immune system; and importantly, it can stimulate a T cell response that can further control the infection. These attributes may be important for both the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. The AGILE study marks the first in-human phase 1 trial of VIR-7832, which aims to establish an optimal dose. When established, the trial will seamlessly move into a second phase with another monoclonal antibody (VIR-7831) which is already being evaluated in two Phase 3 clinical trials" agiletrial.net/first-patien...

It will be a while before we see phase 3 data, but VIR-7832 is another drug with potential to combat emerging variants of concern. How it would work in immunosuppressed folk is another question.