Is reinforcement necessary? : how does the new technology that could require the immune response to COVID in hours

There is a big unknown when it comes to knowing how the body will react to SARS-CoV-2. Whether after infection or after vaccination, the behavior of neutralizing antibodies against the COVID-19 virus is the next step in the pandemic, some experts say. With this in mind, a group of scientists at George Mason University, in the United States, developed a technology that could measure this immune response in a matter of hours.

According to the document published in the journal Cell Reports Methods, scientists managed to develop a system, using “hybrid pseudovirus alphavirus-SARS-CoV-2″, which can trick the body into generating an immune response as if it were the coronavirus virus itself. Scientists assure that the result, i.e. the expression of neutralizing antibodies, was obtained in a matter of hours. Moreover, they assured that this same virus was used to evaluate the behavior of the immune response to the Alpha, Delta and Ómicron variants (including BA.2).

The researchers also emphasized the speed at which they obtained these results. In other words, after almost two days of waiting, this situation could now be known in a few hours. “The laboratory leveraged lessons learned from our previous HIV and polio virus research and Mason's extensive high-level, integrated infectious disease facilities,” noted Yuntao Wu, professor and virologist at Mason's Faculty of Science and principal investigator of the study.

In this regard, the creator of the “simulator” virus, Brian Hetrick, explained that it was based on research on viral vectors conducted by Wu. Although the system was an invention of both. “I tried to create a pseudovirus based on a hybrid alphavirus vector for SARS-CoV-2. We expected to have a stronger and faster system for detecting and measuring antiviral drugs and antibodies. Fortunately, we succeeded after some failed attempts,” recalled the developer of the virus.

“We learned from previous SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus technology that we could obtain superior technology with greater accuracy and speed to quantify neutralizing antibodies,” Wu explained. At the same time, he warned that “people are different, as are their neutralizing antibodies produced by vaccination.” This system, called HA-CoV-2, can reliably verify “the strength of antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 or a particular variant”, either thanks to vaccination or infection.

This development, in the words of the experts, will contribute to the decisions of the health authorities. “Most lines of future research will begin with analysis of protection (when to receive reinforcements), detection and treatment against Ómicron. This rapid pseudovirus technology could identify antibody levels and their effectiveness to determine if additional protection and method for antibody testing is needed from a particular organization or individual.”

“Instead of the 'back to school uncertainty' that now prevails, imagine if members of Mason's community could go through an antibody test at the start of an academic year and receive a report detailing their levels of antibody protection,” Hetrick said. He also said that, with this method, “one would have the peace of mind of knowing that one is physically protected or, on the contrary, whether a reinforcement should be provided to strengthen the antibody response”.

Finally, the researchers noted that both Mason's team and his collaborators at George Washington University and the University of Toledo “are applying the technology to measure neutralizing antibodies in immunocompromised people after their vaccination, hoping to obtain detailed information to be able to make informed decisions about the need for vaccine boosters.”

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