B cells & Covid-19
If you’re a fan of antibodies, you have B cells to thank: They are the glorious wellsprings whence these molecules hail. (On Mother’s Day, antibodies call their B cells.) - Katherine J. Wu
image by: Abdullah Btni
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The cells that can give you super-immunity
One of the things which Covid-19 has illustrated to immunologists is that people who have a greater diversity of B cells are much more equipped to fend off a new pathogen, and particularly the ever-evolving variants of Covid-19. This is impacted by age, underlying health conditions, and also simply genetics. "Everyone will have a different repertoire of B cells with which they respond to any infection," says Ali Ellebedy, associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine. "Even if you have siblings, they will have different B cell responses."
As we get older, two things happen to the B cell response.
Resources
How B cells fight the COVID-19 virus
A study of antibody-producing B cells from patients who recovered from COVID-19 reveals a new cross-reactive antibody and what makes some B cells more effective at neutralizing the virus.
How does Covid immunity work and what does it mean for vaccines?
“[The adaptive immune system] has this special feature of memory, which is what you exploit in vaccines,” said Prof Danny Altmann, an expert in immunology of infectious disease at Imperial College London. It involves two main types of white blood cells, known as lymphocytes. B cells produce antibody proteins that can stick to the virus to prevent it from entering cells. T cells kill virus-infected cells and make proteins called cytokines.
Evidence of SARS-CoV-2-Specific Memory B Cells Six Months After Vaccination With the BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine
In this work, we demonstrate that spike-specific memory B cells, capable of reactivation following antigen encounter, persist in the blood of vaccinated subjects 6 months after the administration of the BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine. Concomitant to antibody reduction, spike-specific memory B cells, mostly IgG class-switched, increase in the blood of vaccinees and persist 6 months after vaccination.
Memory B Cells, Infection, and Vaccination
We've seen many studies of antibody titers and the like over time, but this is going to a deeper level and looking at the actual memory B cells. Those, you may well recall or already know, are the ones that persist and stay on guard should the same antigens reappear. They can go on for decades as an inbuilt surveillance system, ready to expand and start the antibody production process again if a similar immunologic threat shows up again.
Show Your Immune System Some Love
Antibodies are great and all, but macrophages, B cells, and helper T cells deserve some attention too.
The cells that can give you super-immunity
In the 1960s, immunologists found that chickens which had their bursa – a major immune organ in birds – destroyed with radiation, lacked certain cells necessary to produce antibodies. These became known as Bursa-derived cells or B cells. By the mid 1970s, it was discovered that these cells form in humans in the bone marrow, before migrating to the lymph nodes or the spleen.
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