While antibodies made after vaccination are sometimes less able to recognize coronavirus variants, T cells remain unaffected. Researchers from Erasmus MC write this in the scientific journal Science Immunology.
Research among employees
Arts-microbioloog dr. Corine Geurts van Kessel en viroloog dr. Rory de Vries en ontdekten met hun onderzoeksteams dat vaccinaties van medewerkers van het Erasmus MC deze T-cellen activeerden, en dat deze cellen in staat waren om verschillende coronavirusvarianten te herkennen.
Maximum immunity
Geurts van Kessel started the research among Erasmus MC employees early in the pandemic, in April 2020. Hospital employees who were tested for COVID-19 were asked to also donate a little blood, both during the coronavirus test and three weeks later. When the vaccinations started in January 2021, the same employees were again asked for blood. This gave the researchers unique material to study immunity after both COVID-19 and vaccination against COVID-19. "This employee cohort was crucial to this study and it allowed us to answer several questions. For example, our study shows that a single vaccination is enough to induce maximum immunity in people who have previously had COVID-19, "said Geurts van Kessel. "In addition, we also see that some coronavirus variants are less well recognized by antibodies generated by vaccination." This is a problem because the vaccines may then offer less protection.
T cells
"When a new coronavirus variant emerges, it is immediately investigated whether antibodies are effective against this variant, but the other parts of the immune system are often forgotten," says De Vries. His research has been focusing for some time on the so-called T cells, or clean-up cells, that attack the coronavirus when it manages to penetrate. He found these T cells in the blood of Erasmus MC employees in both patients who recovered from COVID-19 and among employees who had been vaccinated against COVID-19. By exposing these cells to different pieces of the coronavirus variants, he investigated whether the variants could also escape these T cells. This was not the case. De Vries: "This is an important message, because it shows that reduced antibody activity after vaccination does not automatically mean that we are no longer protected against disease caused by these variants. The T cells may play a crucial role. "
Read this interview with Rory de Vries and with Corine Geurts van Kessel.
Article in NRC Wetenschap (Dutch)
