BREAKING NEWS! Colorado Study Finds That Antibodies Induced By COVID-19 Vaccines Are Airborne Transferable!
COVID-19 News: The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by numerous scientific breakthroughs and challenges. One such breakthrough has come from researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in the USA, who have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding the transfer of antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines.
The study team has found evidence suggesting that antibodies, specifically immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA), present in the nasal and oral fluids of vaccinated individuals can be shared through aerosols, possibly offering a new avenue of protection for both vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals.
The study utilized a multiplexed microsphere immunoassay (MMI) to detect and quantify IgG and IgA antibodies against the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) and nucleocapsid of the Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2. They also used tetanus toxoid (TT) as a positive control. To investigate aerosolized antibody transfer, the researchers collected nasal swabs from vaccinated individuals and eluted antibodies from surgical face masks that were worn by vaccinated laboratory members for one workday.
The results were nothing short of astonishing. The researchers not only confirmed the presence of both IgG and IgA antibodies in the saliva of vaccinated individuals, but they also detected these antibodies in the eluates from the masks. This suggested that antibodies could be expelled through respiration and captured by masks, potentially providing a route for aerosol transfer.
To further investigate this phenomenon, the researchers collected nasal swabs from children living in households with varying degrees of SARS-CoV-2-specific immunity. These households included those with unvaccinated individuals, vaccinated individuals, and individuals who had recovered from COVID-19. The nasal swabs were then analyzed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and IgA antibodies.
The data revealed a strong correlation between high intranasal IgG levels in vaccinated parents and increased IgG levels in their children's nasal swabs. This suggested that aerosol transmission of antibodies between vaccinated individuals and their family members might indeed be occurring.
The implications of this discovery are profound. If airborne transfer of antibodies is confirmed, it could represent an entirely unrecognized mechanism by which passive immune protection is communicated within a community. This could have far-reaching consequences in the fight against COVID-19, as it may provide an additional layer of protection for those who have not been vaccinated or those with compromised immune systems.
However, the researchers acknowledge that more extensive studies are needed to fully understand the biological relevance of aerosol-mediated antibody transfer. The difficulty in recruiting participants from unvaccinated households and the availability of vaccines for children under the age of five limited the scope of the study. Nonetheless, the initial findings warrant further investigation.
The study also addresses concerns about cross-reactivity between seasonal coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 that were covered in previous studies and
COVID-19 News reports. The researchers found no evidence to suggest that the results were influenced by previous exposure to seasonal coronaviruses. This suggests that the aerosol transfer of antibodie
s is specific to SARS-CoV-2, and not a result of cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses.
As the world continues to grapple with the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, this study opens up exciting new avenues of research and could potentially revolutionize our understanding of immunity and transmission dynamics. If aerosol-mediated antibody transfer proves to be a significant mode of protection, it could impact public health strategies and vaccination campaigns significantly.
(A and B) Representative flow cytometric results from the use of a multiplex microsphere immunoassay (MMI) (A) evaluating serum samples from a COVID-19–negative (B, left), COVID-19–positive (B, middle), and Moderna mRNA vaccinee (B, right). N, nucleocapsid protein; RBD, receptor-binding domain; TT, tetanus toxoid. Note that the TT reactivity serves as a positive control for validating sample quality in the assay. (C and D) Histograms showing the MFIs for Wuhan-RBD–specific IgG (left) and IgA (right) from saliva or eluted from a surgical mask worn for 1 work day. (D) Quantification of IgG and IgA gMFI eluted from masks obtained from four individuals. Dotted lines indicate gMFI obtained for COVID-19/vaccine− sample. (E) Histograms showing the MFIs for Wuhan-RBD–specific IgG eluted from nasal swabs from unvaccinated children living in households in which parents or family members were either vaccinated (top) or unvaccinated (bottom). Gray and green histograms represent histograms from two separate children in whom high (gray) versus low (green) RBD Abs were identified. (F) Log transformation of the gMFI for Wuhan-RBD–specific IgG (left) or IgA (right) from 34 adult/child pairs using Ab cutoffs for high versus low parental intranasal Ab levels.
The researchers call for further studies to validate their findings and suggest that nasal swabs collected for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 transmission could be repurposed for examining SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and IgA within vaccinated adults and non-infected family members. This could provide the statistical power necessary to support the conclusions drawn from this groundbreaking study.
In conclusion, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus study sheds light on a remarkable aspect of the body's immune response to COVID-19 vaccines. The possibility of aerosolized transfer of antibodies offers a new dimension in the fight against the pandemic, potentially bridging the immunity gap between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Immuno Horizons.
https://journals.aai.org/immunohorizons/article/7/5/307/263692/Evidence-for-Aerosol-Transfer-of-SARS-CoV-2
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