SARS-CoV-2-infection- and vaccine-induced antibody responses are long lasting with an initial waning phase followed by a stabilization phase
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-based vaccine-induced immunity is thought to wane quickly based on short-term studies. Using longitudinal data, Srivastava et al. find that participants with hybrid immunity show faster, higher antibody responses after initial vaccination, but boosters evened out differences. Modeling of antibody kinetics revealed an initial rapid decay followed by a stabilization phase, challenging the idea that vaccine immunity fades quickly.
Yang and colleagues demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 can infect hPSC-derived midbrain dopamine
(DA) neurons and induce cellular senescence. Several drug candidates were identified
to rescue SARS-CoV-2 infection and DA neuron senescence. Inflammation and cellular
senescence were also identified in substantia nigra tissue of COVID-19 patients.
Robust SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Sustained through Three Months Post XBB.1.5 mRNA Vaccine Booster
SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies were substantially expanded one month after a shot of XBB.1.5 monovalent mRNA vaccine (XBB.1.5 MV) booster, but the durability of this response remained unknown. Here, we addressed this question by performing neutralization assays on four viral variants (D614G, BA.5, XBB.1.5, and JN.1) using sera from 39 adult participants obtained at ∼1 month and ∼3 months post an XBB.1.5 MV booster. Our findings indicate that the resultant neutralizing antibody titers were robust and generally maintained at stable levels for the study period, similar to those following XBB infection. Importantly, this durability of neutralizing antibody titers contrasts with the decline observed after a booster of the original monovalent or BA.5 bivalent mRNA vaccine. Our results are in line with the recent national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showing the efficacy against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection is sustained for up to 4 months after an XBB.1.5 MV booster. ### Competing Interest Statement D.D.H. is a co-founder of TaiMed Biologics and RenBio, consultant to WuXi Biologics and Brii Biosciences, and board director for Vicarious Surgical. Aubree Gordon served on a scientific advisory board for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Other authors declare no competing interests.
Connecticut University researchers report that teachers are 13% more likely to die from lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases than other professionals. Secondary school teachers were at the greatest risk: those 35–44 years old were 143% more likely to die from autoimmune disease. The researchers speculate that teachers might have an increased risk as they are exposed to a large variety of viruses on a frequent basis. Some studies have linked Epstein–Barr virus to multiple sclerosis. Epstein–Barr virus is more common among secondary school age children than younger children, which could explain why secondary school teachers are more likely to die from autoimmune disease than are infant school teachers. However, a teacher's overall risk for dying from autoimmune disease is low. AV
Post-COVID cognitive deficits at one year are global and associated with elevated brain injury markers and grey matter volume reduction: national prospective study
The spectrum, pathophysiology, and recovery trajectory of persistent post-COVID-19 cognitive deficits are unknown, limiting our ability to develop prevention and treatment strategies. We report the one-year cognitive, serum biomarker, and neuroimaging findings from a prospective, national long...
Immune escape of Omicron lineages BA.1, BA.2, BA.5.1, BQ.1, XBB.1.5, EG.5.1 and JN.1.1 after vaccination, infection and hybrid immunity
Since their emergence in late 2021, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron replaced earlier variants of concern and marked a new phase in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Until the end of 2023, Omicron lineages continue to circulate and continue to evolve, with new lineages causing infection waves throughout 2022 and 2023. In the population, this leads to a complex immunological exposure background, characterized by immunity derived through vaccination, in the 5th year of the pandemic in the majority of individuals followed by at least one or even multiple infections or only natural infection in individuals that did not receive a vaccine. In this study, we use eight authentic SARS-CoV-2 isolates (ancestral lineage B.1 and the seven Omicron lineages BA.1, BA.2, BA.5.1, BQ.1, XBB.1.5, EG.5.1 and JN.1.1) in a live virus neutralization assay to study immune escape in 97 human sera or plasma of different immunological backgrounds (vaccination, hybrid immunity due to one or two natural infections and natural infection without vaccination in children and adults). We showed a gradually increasing immune escape after vaccination and hybrid immunity in from B.1 to BA.1/BA.2 to BA.5.1 to BQ.1 to XBB.1.5 to EG.5.1, but remarkably, no more enhanced immune escape of JN.1.1 compared to EG.5.1, with the latter two showing almost identical neutralization titers in individuals with hybrid immunity due to one or more infections. In vaccinated but never infected individuals, neutralization was markedly reduced or completely lost for XBB.1.5., EG.5.1 and JN.1.1, while in those with hybrid immunity, titers were reduced but almost all sera still showed some degree of neutralization. After a single infection without vaccination, reduced or complete loss of neutralization occurred for BQ.1, XBB.1.5, EG.5.1 and JN.1.1 compared to BA.1/BA.2. Furthermore, we observed that, although absolute titers differed between groups, the pattern of immune escape between the variants remains comparable across groups, with strongest loss of neutralization for BQ.1, XBB.1.5, EG.5.1 and JN.1.1 was observed across the different immunological backgrounds. Our results show gradually increasing antibody escape of evolving Omicron lineages over the last two years of Omicron circulation until variant EG.5.1, but not anymore for the currently dominant lineages JN.1.1, suggesting other mechanisms than immune escape to be behind the rapid global emergence of JN.1. ### Competing Interest Statement IE has received research funding and speakers fees from Moderna for an unrelated research project (IIS). CSE received funding from Pfizer for an unrelated research project (IIS). All other authors: No conflict of interest.
Prevalence of persistent SARS-CoV-2 in a large community surveillance study
Nature - Using viral sequence data, individuals with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified, and had higher odds of self-reporting long COVID, in a large community surveillance study.
Dr.med.Hank Schiffers, MD, MBA, Lean Sensei on Twitter / X
#LongCovid #Leistungssport #COVIDistnichtMild - Kanutin Kriegerstein beendet KarriereStand: 17.08.2022 13:01 UhrDie Kanu-Olympia-Zweite von Rio de Janeiro, Steffi Kriegerstein, hat ihre Karriere wegen der Folgen einer Corona-Infektion beendet. Seehttps://t.co/EtxCSXdaov— Dr.med.Hank Schiffers, MD, MBA, Lean Sensei (@leanhealth) February 20, 2023
A clot too far: An embalmer dissects antivax misinformation about blood clots in Died Suddenly | Science-Based Medicine
"Died Suddenly" features embalmers claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause massive deadly clots, SBM has recruited an experienced embalmer to dissect the claims.
No apparent association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccination and venous thromboembolism
By January 2022 over ten billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered worldwide. Concerns about COVID-19 vaccine-associated thrombosis aro…
Record long-term sickness bodes ill for UK economic growth
Years of austerity, followed by Covid, have left Britain with unhealthy workers and businesses struggling to recruit, but the road to recovery, of all kinds, will be long
Bystander activated CD8+ T cells mediate neuropathology during viral infection via antigen-independent cytotoxicity
Nature Communications - Many viral infections are linked to the development of neurological disorders. Here, Balint et al use a mouse model of Zika virus infection to show that it is immune cells...
'Robodebt of medicine': Patients are catching COVID and dying in hospitals, doctors say
Hospitals have become a strange new battleground in the fight against COVID, with doctors and public health experts concerned that too many patients are catching the virus — and an alarming number are dying — as a result of inadequate infection control.
Jarred Younger, PhD | How Brain Inflammation Causes ME/CFS
Psychophysiology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 2003. He then completed postdoctoral fellowships in pain medicine and neuroimaging at Arizona...
Viral afterlife: SARS-CoV-2 as a reservoir of immunomimetic peptides that reassemble into proinflammatory supramolecular complexes | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
It is unclear how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection leads to the strong but ineffective inflammatory response ...
Conventional dendritic cell 2 links the genetic causal association from allergic asthma to COVID-19: a Mendelian randomization and transcriptomic study - Journal of Big Data
Recent evidence suggests that allergic asthma (AA) decreases the risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the reasons remain unclear. Here, we systematically explored data from GWAS (18 cohorts with 11,071,744 samples), bulk transcriptomes (3 cohorts with 601 samples), and single-cell transcriptomes (2 cohorts with 29 samples) to reveal the immune mechanisms that connect AA and COVID-19. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis identified a negative causal correlation from AA to COVID-19 hospitalization (OR = 0.968, 95% CI 0.940–0.997, P = 0.031). This correlation was bridged through white cell count. Furthermore, machine learning identified dendritic cells (DCs) as the most discriminative immunocytes in AA and COVID-19. Among five DC subtypes, only conventional dendritic cell 2 (cDC2) exhibited differential expression between AA/COVID-19 and controls (P
The Daily — Experiences of Canadians with long-term symptoms following COVID-19
As of June 2023, the majority of Canadians had been infected by the virus causing COVID-19. Most people recover from their symptoms and are able to carry on with their lives, however, for many others, symptoms persist for months, often impacting their ability to work and their quality of life overall.
Ventricular Tachycardia as a Late Complication of COVID-19 in a Young Patient with no History of Cardiovascular Disease
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus has been associated with heart disease. Reports have shown an increased incidence of arrhythmias following COVID-19. In fact, cardiac injury is suggested to be a driver of the arrhythmogenic substrate, and some case reports showed development of ventricular arrhythmias following COVID-19 in acute settings. However, recent literature is defining a new entity: long-haulers COVID, as many patients are reporting at least one residual symptom after COVID-19 resolution (1
). In this context, we report the case of a patient who developed ventricular tachycardia after COVID-19 resolution, presenting as a cardiac manifestation of long-hauler COVID-19.
Los Angeles – Beim enzymatischen Abbau von SARS-CoV-2 entstehende Virusfragmente gleichen offenbar körpereigenen Peptiden, deren Aufgabe es ist, das Immunsystem... #PNASNews #COVID19
Salivary glands are a target for SARS-CoV-2: a source for saliva contamination - PubMed
The ability of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to spread and contaminate is one of the determinants of the COVID-19 pandemic status. SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in saliva consistently, with similar sensitivity to that observed in nasopharyngeal swabs. We conducted ultrasound-guided postmortem biopsi …
Statistical analysis of three data sources for Covid-19 monitoring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
In Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, a system of three data sources has been established to track the Covid-19 pandemic. These sources are the number of Covid-19-related hospitalizations, the Covid-19 genecopies in wastewater, and the prevalence derived from a cohort study. This paper presents an extensive comparison of these parameters. It is investigated whether wastewater data and a cohort study can be valid surrogate parameters for the number of hospitalizations and thus serve as predictors for coming Covid-19 waves. We observe that this is possible in general for the cohort study prevalence, while the wastewater data suffer from a too large variability to make quantitative predictions by a purely data-driven approach. However, the wastewater data as well as the cohort study prevalence are able to detect hospitalizations waves in a qualitative manner. Furthermore, a detailed comparison of different normalization techniques of wastewater data is provided. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This work has been supported by the Ministry for Science and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes The cohort study data are presented online under . The number of N1 and N2 genecopies per ml in wastewater is publicly available online under . A slightly differently counted version of the number of hospitalizations than used for this paper is publicly available online under . The German weather data are publicly available online under .
