People who have previously had Covid or been vaccinated have T-cells in their system that work well against omicron, a new study suggests.
T-cells are a form of immunity that are longer-lasting than antibodies, and although they do not stop infection, they prevent the virus from causing severe disease and death.
“We report here that SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific … T-cells induced by prior infection or [Pfizer] vaccination provide extensive immune coverage against [omicron],” the researchers, led by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, write in their study, published in Nature Medicine.
There are two forms of T-cells, called CD4+ and CD8+, which are better known as T-helper and T-killer cells, respectively. The former help other cells tackle the virus, whereas the latter directly kill human cells which have been breached by the pathogen.
In a person who had previously caught Covid, 84 per cent of their T-helper cells worked against omicron and 70 per cent of their T-killer cells did the same.
However, people who had received the vaccine showed even better results, with 91 per cent of their T-helper and 92 per cent of their T-killer cells working against omicron.
“Collectively, our data indicate that established SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses, especially after [Pfizer] vaccination, remain largely intact against [omicron],” the researchers write.
The findings are the latest to emphasise the importance of T-cells in the fight against Covid.
Earlier in the week, a study from Imperial College London and published in Nature Communications found T-cells from some common colds work against SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid.
Dr Rhia Kundu, first author of the Imperial study, said: “We found that high levels of pre-existing T-cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against Covid-19 infection.
“While this is an important discovery, it is only one form of protection, and I would stress that no one should rely on this alone.”
