NEJM: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patients with mild COVID-19 quickly disappear in two to three months.

25, 2020 /pr.----- In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggest that antibodies produced by the immune system to fight the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 may last only a few months in mild lysis, but that doesn't mean protection is gone, and it doesn't mean an effective vaccine can't be developed.
related findings were published on July 21, 2020 in the journal NEJM with the title "Rapid Decay of Anti-SARS-2 Antibodies in People with Mild-19".
images from New England Journal of Medicine, 2020, doi:10.1056/NEJMc2025179. Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in the United States
who was not involved in the study, said that "infection with this coronavirus does not necessarily produce lifelong immunity", but antibodies are only part of the story.
he says the immune system remembers how to make new antibodies when needed, and other parts of it can attack.
antibodies are proteins produced by white blood cells called B cells that bind to viruses and help destroy them.
the earliest antibodies produced were quite rough, but as the infection progressed, the immune system was trained to make more accurate antibodies.
Dr. Otto Yang of the University of California, Los Angeles, and others measured these more accurate antibodies in 30 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and four of their roommates who were presumed to have the disease.
their average age is 43, and most have milder symptoms.
the researchers found that the antibodies had a half-life of 73 days, meaning that after such a long time, half of the antibodies would disappear.
this is consistent with previous reports from China that antibodies will quickly fade. "These results call for caution in antibody-based 'immune passports', group immunity, and perhaps vaccine persistence,"
the authors wrote.
" Creech says it's true, but other parts of the immune system also help with protection.
in addition to producing antibodies, B cells also form a memory, so they know how to do it again when needed. "When new viruses are exposed, they are quickly called into action,"
said.
as if they were dormant, just waiting for the moment.
", Another type of white blood cell called T-cells could also attack the virus better the next time they see it.
University of Virginia immunologist Alison Criss (who wasn't involved in the study) wrote in an email that while circulating antibodies may not last long, we need to know whether and how people re-produce antibodies if they are exposed to the coronavirus again, and whether they can prevent another infection.
"We also need to know if there is a protective T-cell reaction" to reappear.
noted that vaccines that trigger the immune system to produce antibodies may provide longer-lasting protection than natural infections because they use purified proteins or nucleic acids to stimulate the immune response.
Creech agrees. "These results should not stop us from pursuing vaccines," he said.

antibodies are only part of the story.
" (Bioon.com) References: 1.F. Javier Ibarrondo et al. Rapid for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in People with Mild Covid-19. New England Journal of Medicine, 2020, doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2025179.2. Virus antibodies fad fast but not no datily protection.