The findings were published in the journal Science’ on Friday (Representative)
London:
According to a study conducted in the UK, the first SARS-CoV-2 mutant protein a person encounters, be it due to vaccination or infection, shapes the body’s subsequent immune response against pathogens. current and future variations, according to a study conducted in the UK.
The study found that exposure to the virus confers different properties that impact the immune system’s ability to protect against current and future variants, and also affect the rate of infection. degree of protection decay, which explains why populations in different regions and countries have varying degrees of immunity to similar virus strains.
Coordinated by a team of scientists from Imperial College and Queen Mary College of London, their findings were published in the journal ‘Science’ on Friday.
Professor Rosemary Boyton, from Imperial University’s Department of Infectious Diseases, said: “Our first encounter with antigens that spike through infection or vaccination shapes their subsequent immune pattern. through immune imprinting.
“Exposure to different mutant proteins may decrease or enhance the response to downstream variants. This has important implications for future vaccine design and quantification strategies,” she said.
It is well known that antibody levels decline over time after infection or vaccination, but new research suggests that an individual’s protective immune response is also affected by the strain or combination of strains. that they have come into contact with.
Each SARS-CoV-2 variant has different mutations in the mutant protein, and the researchers found that they shape subsequent antibody and T-cell responses, or immune activity. of body.
“This study now offers significant new details about who is susceptible and when. Professor Danny Altmann from the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial University said you could be a good responder to the vaccine and still fall prey to Delta’s breakthrough if you haven’t had a booster shot. .
“Immune imprinting means we are all currently going around programmed slightly differently to protect our future. The challenge is how to extend population immunity in the way that we need to ensure the widest possible coverage.
“For now, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, it’s important for everyone to get the booster vaccine. But in the future, we should look at how we can make the expanded vaccine respond. Our immune response further to protect against new variants is of interest,” he explains.
Based on their findings, the researchers say that vaccine design and quantification strategies need to be demonstrated to make the most of the immune marker.
This would involve enhancing coverage rather than tailoring the vaccine to the latest variant mutation sequence.
“The emergence of new variants with the ability to avoid immunity has shown that we must future-proof the next generation of vaccines.
“We studied immunity over time in people infected with different variants and found that the response to the vaccine varied greatly depending on the infectious strain. These findings can be used to ensure optimal vaccine design. This work highlights the importance of continuously monitoring the effectiveness of vaccines against new variants such as Omicron,” explains Dr Joseph Gibbons, from Queen Mary University of London.
Research, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), looked at ‘immunological markers’ in healthcare workers after two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to understand their immune response. for infections by variants of concern.
It involved the detailed, longitudinal follow-up of the Barts Health National Health Service (NHS) Trust COVIDsortium group of 731 healthcare workers, who had been followed since March 2020.
The study revealed that the neutralizing responses of antibodies against the degradation variants varied over time after mixed encounters.
There were some cases of Delta breakout in people who received two doses of the vaccine in the study.
The spike antibody levels measured three weeks after the second dose of vaccine were high, but the actual level of protective neutralizing antibodies against Delta fell to 0, five months after the second dose.
However, the third dose of the initial spike from the booster vaccine enhanced the antibody response.
“These findings highlight the importance of a third dose booster vaccination to reduce virus transmission,” said Professor Boyton.
Overall, the researchers emphasize that, although breakthrough infections have been seen, immune responses to vaccination are still effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID- 19 in the face of Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants.
The new Omicron variant is still being studied, but the researchers believe that the so-called “immunological marker” could mean a very different effect of the mutation in different parts of the world.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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