Lawrence Stern, PhD, (center) and members of his lab, Aniuska Becerra-Artiles (right) and J. Mauricio Calvo-Calle, PhD, (left) examine the antigens of the virus that causes COVID-19 in a new article in Reports of cells.
A new article from Lawrence Stern’s lab, PhD, indicates that some of the antigens of the virus that causes COVID-19 are common to all human coronaviruses, such as those that cause the common cold and this particular peptide in the ear protein of the virus. is among the most common antigens that promote an immune response worldwide.
The research appears in the June issue of Cell Reports, and was conducted primarily by Aniuska Becerra-Artiles, a senior scientific researcher in the Department of Pathology and J. Mauricio Calvo-Calle, PhD, pathology instructor, with collaborators from the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology and Medicine.
“Since the first studies on the response of T cells to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) there has been intense interest in whether pre-infection immunity to circulating seasonal coronaviruses common ‘affects the incidence of COVID-19 or progression,’ ”said Dr. Stern, professor of pathology. “In this study, we isolated T cells from volunteers who had not been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and from volunteers who had had COVID-19 to find T cells that recognized antigens from both SARS-CoV-2 and of seasonal coronaviruses.We found that a particular peptide sequence of the ear protein was especially prominent to elicit the T cell response “.
It is important to note that the identified sequence includes a known cleavage site that is a key part of the mechanism by which viruses invade cells, one that is highly conserved among human and animal coronaviruses. In fact, the sequence is presented to the immune system by the most common antigen-presenting molecule variant worldwide, which helps to account for the high prevalence of reactivity, which was observed in most donors. tested.
“The highly conserved sequence we identified in this study will be useful in assessing the role of pre-coronavirus seasonal exposure to COVID-19,” Stern said, “and represents a promising candidate for inclusion in vaccine strategies. pan-coronavirus designed to protect against coronavirus “. SARS-CoV-2, especially as it continues to evolve in the human population. “