First trials of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine are encouraging: study

The first trials of a Covid-19 vaccine that bets on a different type of immunity from that of classic vaccines have yielded encouraging results, a study highlighted on Tuesday.

The first trials (phase 1) in Germany of a vaccine project against coronavirus, called CoVac-1, showed that it stimulated an immunity related to T lymphocytes, according to this study published in the journal Nature.

T lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell responsible for the second stage of the immune response, cellular immunity, which completes that of antibodies by directly attacking infected cells and not only against viruses that circulate in the body.

For the first clinical evaluation of this vaccine, 36 people between 18 and 80 years of age participated, who received a single dose of this vaccine. experimental vaccine.

CoVac-1 aims to elicit long-lasting immunity against SARS-CoV2, produced by T lymphocytes, to reproduce as far as possible the immunity acquired through natural infection.

This immunity induced by T cells is an “important response for the control of viruses and could be used for immunocompromised people”, highlights the Nature article.

All participants showed a “specific” reaction to SARS-CoV2 using T lymphocytes “28 days after the vaccine, a reaction that persisted for at least 3 months.”

That response surpassed that caused by the natural infection of the coronavirus. And it was not “altered” by any current variant (Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta).

These results are however very embryonic and only larger trials will be able to confirm the real interest of this vaccine to protect against Covid-19.

A classic vaccine causes the human body to create antibodies after inoculation with a virus. T lymphocytes allow a potentially broader response, although their role in fight against Covid-19 it is still little known.

But in any case, they can be a decisive help for cancer patients who fail to develop a classical immunity, explains the study.

On the other hand, T cells can facilitate “the production of protective antibodies by B cells”, which are another type of white blood cell, recalls the Nature article.