22 Apr COVID-19 Vaccines Might Provide Some Protection Against Common Cold Coronaviruses

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Blankson

Joel N. Blankson, MD, PhD
Department of Infectious Diseases
Associate Professor
Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program
Johns Hopkins

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Which vaccines did you evaluate?

Response: Prior studies from several groups including our own have found T cell cross-recognition of peptides from SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold coronaviruses.

We asked whether as a result of this cross-reactivity, immunization with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would also enhance T cell responses to the common cold coronaviruses.

Prior studies also suggested that antibodies elicited from the mRNA vaccines had a reduced ability to neutralize the emerging variants of concern.

Most of the study participants had received the Pfizer vaccine, but a few had received the Moderna vaccine. 

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? 

Response: We compared T cell responses before and after vaccination and found that there was a marked increase in the CD4+ T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 and also a 3 fold increase in the response to one of the common cold coronaviruses (HCoV-NL63).

We also found that CD4+ T cells responded as well to the spike proteins from 2 variants of concern (B.1.1.7 and B.135.1) as they did to the original Wuhan virus.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Our data suggest that these vaccines may provide some protection from the common cold coronaviruses as well as from COVID-19.

Also the data suggest that if a fully vaccinated person is exposed to some of the new variants, our CD4+ T cells may provide some protection from severe disease even if our antibodies do not prevent infection from occurring. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: It would be nice to track the rate of common cold coronavirus infections in the future.

We should also carefully study fully vaccinated individuals who become infected to determine whether their T cells recognize the strain of virus they are infected with.

I have no disclosures.

Citation:

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce broad CD4+ T cell responses that recognize SARS-CoV-2 variants and HCoV-NL63

Bezawit A. Woldemeskel, … , Caroline C. Garliss, Joel N. Blankson

Published April 6, 2021
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI149335.

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Last Updated on April 22, 2021 by Marie Benz MD FAAD