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Coronavirus pandemic

FMBA develops method to determine T-cell immunity to coronavirus

Those who did not have COVID-19 and don’t possess the humoral immunity to the infection, in some cases have the T-cell clonotype, which, according to the FMBA, allows to presume the presence of a pre-existing T-cellular immunity

© Alexander Demyanchuik/TASS

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Medical Biological Agency (FMBA) jointly with the Pirogov Medical University of the Russian Healthcare Ministry has developed a diagnostic technique for determining cellular immunity to the coronavirus, the agency’s press service told TASS.

"Russia’s Federal Medical Biological Agency jointly with the Pirogov Medical University of the Russian Healthcare Ministry developed a unique diagnostic technique to determine a repertoire of T-cell receptors specific to SARS-CoV-2 based on a targeted sequencing of the next-generation human DNA. An analysis of the SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell clonotypes in the experimental sampling demonstrated a high correlation between the presence of humoral and cellular immunity - the absolute majority of seropositive individuals have a SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cellular response," the press service said.

At the same time, 30% of individuals who had the coronavirus infection and don’t have antibodies, have T-cells. Those who did not have COVID-19 and don’t possess the humoral immunity to the infection, in some cases have the T-cell clonotypes. This, according to the FMBA, allows to presume the presence of a pre-existing T-cellular immunity conditioned by seasonal coronaviruses or other agents of acute respiratory viral infections.

"This observation requires further research. The developed technique removes a number of limitations (complexity of the analysis, the necessity to rush the delivery of a biological material to the laboratory, and so on) which are characteristic of traditional low-output methods of the T-cellular immunity analysis and presents an opportunity to incorporate this method in population studies," the press service noted.

It is possible to fully evaluate the state of the humoral and cellular immunity to the coronavirus in population only after conducting special tests planned for 2021.

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