Ukrainian scientists have proved: if you have been ill with some type of coronavirus, immunity to SARS-CoV-2 can work

A group of scientists from Danilo Galitsky Lviv National Medical University conducted and published in a preprint a study that proves the existence of cross-immunity for the coronavirus that caused the 2020 pandemic – SARS-CoV-2.

This is important both for analyzing the chances of contracting coronavirus and for understanding how vaccines against it should work. “It seems that this is almost the first work of this level regarding SARS-CoV-2, done in Ukraine”, – says biophysicist Semyon Esilevsky.

The editorial staff of AIN.UA spoke with the head of the group, professor of the Department of Histology, Cytology and Embryology of LNMU Rostislav Bely about what this means for the treatment of coronavirus. We publish a blitz interview with a scientist.

Tell us about your research group, what exactly are you researching?

We specialize in the study of cells responsible for the innate immune defense of a person, in particular neutrophils, lymphocytes, etc.

We are participating in two international projects of the Horizon 2020 program, a project of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. I am the leader of these projects from the Ukrainian side. Our publications include articles in Science, Nature Medicine, Material Today and other journals. Our 2019 article in the journal Immunity, where we showed that neutrophilic granulocytes initiate the formation of stones in the bile duct, was recognized as the best in the journal Immunity in 2019.

Is it true that your research proves that the coronavirus causes cross-immunity? That is, a person who has encountered this type of virus can become immune to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus?

Since 2015, we have been researching vaccine adjuvants – those components that enhance the immune response. In particular, we are studying nanoparticle adjuvants that very strongly stimulate human neutrophilic granulocytes and provide a strong immune response.

When a few years ago we decided to test our developments in collaboration with colleagues from the Pasteur Institute in Lille, we chose the most dangerous pathogen to which it is difficult to get an immune response.

It was the coronavirus, the causative agent of the Near East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Although this disease was localized, the high mortality rate (~ 35%) still makes it extremely dangerous. We successfully received an immune response in both mice and rabbits back in 2019.

And here the COVID-19 epidemic began and its causative agent is the closest brother of the MERS virus. Therefore, our predictions about the danger turned out to be correct, and at the time of the outbreak, we had already developed a methodology and available antibodies to one of the coronaviruses. This is how the idea arose to test the crossover of the immune response among coronaviruses, because this is a fairly typical phenomenon.

The team that carried out this work consisted of my colleagues from university, where the greatest contribution was made by Andriy Rabets, my colleagues from the Ukrainian biotechnological company Explogen, colleagues from the French Academy of Sciences, the group of Professor Sabina Szuneritz and Dr. Sandor Vare from the Sinai Cedar Medical Center, California.

Our cohort is Lviv patients who have had coronavirus and were treated at the clinical departments of the University. The main tasks are the synthesis of virus antigens and testing of the relationship of antibodies.

What will your research mean for the treatment of coronavirus?

As a result, we found that in almost all coronaviruses there are regions of the so-called spike protein, which the virus attaches to the cell, which has a very high affinity.

Moreover, these areas are hidden during the contact of the virus with the host cell, but after the contact itself, the protein “unfolds” to ensure the penetration of the viral particle into the host cell, and at this moment these areas become clearly visible to the cells of the immune system. Accordingly, they can induce immunity.

Accordingly, antibodies to one coronavirus will, to a certain extent, and I emphasize – to a certain extent, recognize other coronaviruses. In this case, patients after COVID-19 had antibodies and recognized peptides of the MERS virus.

And that’s completely OK: remember the first vaccine, in 1796 Edward Gener used cowpox material (less dangerous) to create immunity against real smallpox.

On the practical significance: this is also an understanding of why such a relatively high antibody value in the test (usually> 1.4) is needed for a positive test for the content of immunoglobulins when making a diagnosis for coronavirus. So is understanding the chances of contracting COVID-19 after Coronavirus SARS, and understanding why you should not use vaccines against this disease based on coronavirus vectors.

Source: ain.ua