Published the first direct comparison of four of the Covid-19 vaccines

by time news

R.I.

Madrid

Updated:03/06/2022 20: 04h

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Scientists from the La Jolla Institute of Immunology (USA) have published the first comparative analysis of how four types of vaccines against Covid-19 prepare the body to fight SARS-CoV-2. His in-depth analysis of how T-cell, B-cell, and antibody levels change in the six months following vaccination is critical to understanding how to protect the population in the current pandemic.

The study has been published in the journal «Cell».

“This work is important because it allows us to answer how different vaccines behave in terms of inducing immune responses,” says researcher Alessandro Sette.

The researchers studied human immune responses to vaccines from ARNm (Pfizer-BioNTech y Moderna)one protein-based recombinants (Novavax) and those based on viral vectors (Janssen/J&J).

The four vaccines in this study were designed to prime the immune system to fight the same target, the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein.

“We are not scoring each vaccine,” says Daniela Weiskopf. “This type of parallel analysis has never been done before with people who received different vaccines at the same time, in a real-life setting. Simply understanding the immune responses to these vaccines will help us integrate what is successful into future vaccine designs.”

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For example, in terms of antibody production, at six months, those who received the vaccine Modern had the highest levels of neutralizing antibodies, followed by those vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech y Novavax. The vaccine Janssen/J&J produced the lowest levels of neutralizing antibodies.

However, B cells, the participants who received the Janssen/J&J vaccine had the highest percentage of B cells with memory after six months.

All participants retained a similar percentage of CD4+ “helper” T cells with memory against the virus, while the Novavax vaccine resulted in the lowest levels of CD8+ “killer” T cells. A greater CD8+ response was seen in those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Janssen/J&J vaccines.

In general, after six months, only between 60 and 70 percent of participants retained memory CD8+ T cells.

“This is a very valuable and comprehensive immunological evaluation of these four different vaccines,” says Crotty.

The new study confirms that most people retain some immune response to SARS-CoV-2, regardless of the vaccine they receive. The researchers caution that this immune memory may not prevent infection, but it appears to help fight severe disease.

“Although it is difficult to maintain a high level of neutralizing antibodies in the long term, the presence of stable cellular immunity shows that the immune system can be reactivated very quickly, within days, if an infection occurs,” adds Sette.

In the future, researchers are interested in the effects of booster doses on long-term immune memory. Scientists are also closely monitoring immune cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants and are currently looking at the immune responses of people who were vaccinated and who experienced “breakthrough” infections.

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