Seasonal Coronaviruses Might Stimulate Cross-Protection Against SARS-CoV-2, Finds New Study

To test the hypothesis, researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Lincoln, NE, USA) examined whether pre-pandemic blood plasma samples - some taken from residents of the US, others from two countries in sub-Saharan Africa - showed signs of recognizing SARS-CoV-2 antigens. They found that less than 3% of the American samples contained infection-fighting antibodies that reacted with the SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Conversely, 19% and 14% of samples from the respective sub-Saharan countries exhibited a response to SARS-CoV-2, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Most of the sub-Saharan plasma samples that reacted with SARS-CoV-2 antigens also reacted with seasonal, common cold-inducing coronaviruses. Proteins from one of those seasonal coronaviruses were found in 92% of the reactive sub-Saharan samples, and proteins from another appeared in 50% of the samples.

Collectively, the findings indicate that prior exposure to the seasonal coronaviruses generated immune responses that could also be providing some protection against SARS-CoV-2, the researchers said. If so, that cross-protection might help account for the surprisingly low infection and mortality rates reported in sub-Saharan Africa to date. The region’s history of epidemics, stemming in part from relatively limited health care resources and hygienic infrastructure, initially led many virologists and epidemiologists to fear that sub-Saharan Africa would be hit especially hard by SARS-CoV-2.

The team’s experiments also revealed that most of the responsive antibodies in the sub-Saharan samples targeted not the now-famous spike protein, which protrudes from SARS-CoV-2 and binds to host cells, but instead a so-called nucleocapsid protein that encases the genetic material at its core. That would make sense, given that spike proteins tend to feature more variation within a virus family - variation that forces an immune system to generate specific antibodies for each member of that family. The relative uniformity of the nucleocapsid makes it more prone to being recognized by a cell-mediated immune response and some cross-reactive antibodies that are actually produced in response to other members of the family - in this case, the seasonal relatives of SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers have emphasized that their study confirmed only the cross-reaction of the seasonal coronavirus antibodies with the SARS-CoV-2 antigens, and not the production of cross-reactive T-cells necessary to establish protective immunity. However, the team is eager to conduct longitudinal studies that might definitively answer whether the seasonal coronaviruses are actually buffering against their more dangerous cousin. Other questions, such as whether bats or whatever wildlife housed an ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 may also have passed along the seasonal coronaviruses in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance could also be investigated.

“Given the development of the vaccines, people don’t think this is an issue anymore,” Charles Wood, Lewis Lehr/3M University Professor of biological sciences and biochemistry at Nebraska, and the founding director of the Nebraska Center for Virology. “But it’s really important for us to prepare for what is on the horizon. It will be coming.”

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