The coronavirus is new, but your immune system might still recognize it | via nytimes COVID19
Eight months ago, the new coronavirus was unknown. But to some of our immune cells, the virus was already something of a familiar foe.
“If you have a population of T cells that are armed and ready to protect you, you could control the infection better than someone who doesn’t have those cross-reactive cells,” said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington who is studying the immune responses of COVID-19 patients. “That’s what we’re all hoping for.”
In theory, cross-reactive T cells can “protect almost like a vaccine,” said Smita Iyer, an immunologist at the University of California, Davis, who is studying immune responses to the new coronavirus in primates. Previous studies have shown that cross-reactive T cells may guard people against different strains of the flu virus, and perhaps confer a trace of immunity against dengue and Zika viruses, which share a family tree.
Cross-reactive T cells alone probably would not be enough to completely stave off infection or disease. But they might alleviate symptoms of the coronavirus in people who happen to carry these cells, or extend the protection provided by a vaccine.Children, who share lots of germs with their peers, might be good candidates for this hypothetical scenario.
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