New Method for Understanding the Body’s Response to Covid-19

Researchers affiliated with the DukeNUS Medical School, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and the Singapore General Hospital in Singapore recently developed an optimized testing method to help experts better understand the body’s immune response to Covid-19.

The new method mainly focuses on how T-cells react to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. T-cells are white blood cells that work in tandem with antibodies in defending the body from infections.

Generally, T-cell response tends to be overshadowed by studies/tests on antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that have the capacity to bind viruses to prevent them from infecting the body, but both antibodies and T-cells play a role in fighting off infections.

At its core, the new testing method lays down the groundwork for a rapid test that allows researchers to regularly monitor T-cells in vaccinated and Covid-19-infected persons as a means for comprehensive assessments and diagnosis. The method and documentation on the study/methodology was featured in the most recent edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The method’s proponents note that it holds the potential to help vaccine developers gain a better overview on how a vaccinated person or a Covid-recovered person’s immune system responds to the virus, given that it zeroes in on T-cell response as a complement to studies in antibody response.

Studies are underway on how Covid-19 variants have an effect on T-cell response.