We have now proven that, in some people, pre-existing T cell memory against common cold coronaviruses can cross-recognize SARS-CoV-2, down to the exact molecular structures," says LJI Research Assistant Professor Daniela Weiskopf, Ph.D., who co-led the new study with LJI Professor Alessandro Sette, Dr. Biol. Sci. "This could help explain why some people show milder symptoms of disease while others get severely sick."
"Immune reactivity may translate to different degrees of protection," adds Sette. "Having a strong T cell response, or a better T cell response may give you the opportunity to mount a much quicker and stronger response."
The new work builds on a recent Cell paper from the Sette Lab and the lab of LJI Professor Shane Crotty, Ph.D., which showed that 40 to 60 percent of people never exposed to SARS-CoV-2 had T cells that reacted to the virus. Their immune systems recognized fragments of the virus it had never seen before. This finding turned out to be a global phenomenon and was reported in people from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
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Since we do not have a Covid-19 vaccine yet, does this mean that deliberately trying to infect yourself with one of the four common cold coronaviruses every 2 weeks, until you have recovered from all 4 after eight weeks would protect many from severe Covid-19 that leads to ICU admittance or death?
If you had given yourself a common cold coronavirus and still were fighting it, what would happen if you got accidentally infected wIth Covid-19 too, and your immune system had to fight two coronaviruses?
