{"id":7505,"date":"2023-09-27T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=7505"},"modified":"2023-09-27T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T18:00:00","slug":"researchers-find-immune-response-to-covid-strengthens-over-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=7505","title":{"rendered":"Researchers find immune response to COVID strengthens over time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Erik Robinson, Oregon Health & Science University<\/a> JANUARY 25, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Researchers
Longitudinal cohort of previously infected vaccinees shows improved variant neutralization compared to vaccination aloneRepresentative focus reduction neutralization test (FRNT) results showing wells infected with live SARS-CoV-2 with the addition of serially diluted serum which were stained and counted (A). Representative focus reduction neutralization curve showing the average neutralization of duplicates as a percent of no serum controls and fit to a dose-response curve to find the 50% neutralizing titer (FRNT50<\/sub>) (B). Live virus FRNT50<\/sub> measurements against original SARS-CoV-2 (WA1) and the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants before and after vaccination (C). Timeline depicting the prevalence of impactful variants in the study location, Oregon, USA (D). Vaccine-only participants are represented by red circles and hybrid immune participants by cyan squares. Error bars represent the geometric mean with 95% confidence intervals. P values in C show the result of Mann-Whitney U tests. All P values are two-tailed and 0.05 was considered significant. For panel C, n=20 for the vaccine only group and n=10 for the prior infection group. Credit: medRxiv<\/em> (2023). DOI: 10.1101\/2023.01.02.23284120<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Immunity from COVID-19 appears to gather strength with more time between vaccination and infection, a new laboratory study from researchers at Oregon Health & Science University suggests. The findings carry implications for vaccine recommendations as the pandemic transitions to an endemic state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers measured the antibody response in blood samples for a group of people who gained so-called “hybrid immunity” through two means: either vaccination followed by a breakthrough infection<\/a>, or by getting vaccinated after contracting COVID-19. They measured the immune response in blood samples<\/a> of 96 generally healthy OHSU employees and found that the immune response was uniformly stronger the longer the time period between vaccination and infection. The longest interval measured was 404 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their findings suggest that vaccine<\/a> boosters should be spaced no more frequently than a year apart, at least among healthy people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Longer intervals between natural infection and vaccination appear to strengthen immune response for otherwise healthy people,” said co-senior author Fikadu Tafesse, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study comes as an advisory panel<\/a> for the Food and Drug Administration is due to meet Thursday, Jan. 26, to consider the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in the Journal for Clinical Investigation Insight<\/em>, the new research is the latest in a series of laboratory discoveries by OHSU scientists revealing a pattern of strengthened immune response through hybrid immunity. Their findings suggest that the magnitude, potency and breadth of hybrid immune response all increased with a longer time period between exposure to the virus\u2014whether through vaccination or natural infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This likely is related to the body’s immune response maturing over time, said co-senior author Marcel Curlin, M.D., associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases<\/a>) in the OHSU School of Medicine and medical director of OHSU Occupational Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The immune system<\/a> is learning,” Curlin said. “If you’re going to amplify a response, what this study tells us is that you might want to boost that response after a longer period of learning rather than early after exposure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the research team found that it didn’t matter whether someone developed hybrid immunity by getting vaccinated after contracting COVID-19 or after a breakthrough infection following vaccination. Both groups developed an equally potent immune response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings suggest long-lasting potency of so-called “memory cells,” the B cells that recognize an invading virus and generate protein antibodies to neutralize the virus and its many variants. The authors write that an ever-growing pool of people who have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus stand to benefit from vaccination, even if they’ve delayed it until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relying on natural infection<\/a> alone is a bad idea, “given the risks of severe illness, long-term complications, and death,” the authors write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers say the findings are the latest to point toward the virus evolving to an endemic state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our results point to a future where inevitable vaccine breakthrough infections would be expected to help build a reservoir of population-level immunity that can help blunt future waves and reduce the opportunity for further viral evolution,” they write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers cautioned that the immune response<\/a> was measured in relatively healthy people, and boosters may be advisable on a more frequent basis among vulnerable people who are older or are immunocompromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information:<\/strong> Timothy A. Bates et al, The time between vaccination and infection impacts immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants, medRxiv<\/em> (2023). DOI: 10.1101\/2023.01.02.23284120<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy A. Bates et al, An extended interval between vaccination and infection enhances hybrid immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants, JCI Insight<\/em> (2023). DOI: 10.1172\/jci.insight.165265 , insight.jci.org\/articles\/view\/165265<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Erik Robinson, Oregon Health & Science University JANUARY 25, 2023 Immunity from COVID-19 appears to gather strength with more time between vaccination and infection, a new laboratory study from researchers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[976,725,836,890,920,607],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquired-immunity","category-booster-shot","category-immune-system","category-natural-immunity-immune-system","category-pro-vaccine","category-vaccine-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}