A simple test, based on PCR technology, allows the measurement of specific cellular immunity against coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and know how long the protection provided by the vaccines against COVID-19.
An international team of scientists has managed to develop this test, in which researchers from the Spanish National Center for Microbiology of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and the Duke School of Medicine in Singapore have participated. , and the results of their work have been published this monday in the magazine Nature Biotechnology.
Through massive sequencing techniques in individuals vaccinated and infected with SARS-CoV-2, the team of researchers has identified a molecule (CXCL10) as a new biomarker of cellular immunity, and using the polymerase chain reaction technique (the already popular PCR) the study has demonstrated the ability to measure the cellular response in a “quick, simple, and economical” way of a large number of samples.
Rapid, scalable assessment of SARS-CoV-2 cellular immunity by whole-blood PCR https://t.co/qM7hyTNr5w pic.twitter.com/DZtS9Uahlm
—Nature Biotechnology (@NatureBiotech) June 13, 2022
This innovative technology facilitates the evaluation of cellular immunity in population studies and clinical trials with a high number of participants, which means, according to a spread note by the Carlos III Health Institute, a great methodological advance.
In addition, this pioneering trial makes it possible to differentiate the immune response of vaccination against COVID-19 from infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so it has direct implications for possible public health policies and may be decisive in time to make decisions.
Jordi Ochando, a scientist at the ISCIII National Center for Microbiology and one of the authors of the work, explained that this technology “allows hundreds of samples to be analyzed per day because it is based on PCR technology” and has also observed that the equipment to carry out The tests are already available in most hospitals and research centers, so this technology is accessible to the entire population in general.
The research has been carried out in collaboration with different Health Research Institutes accredited by the Carlos III Health Institute itself, such as those linked to the hospitals of La Paz, Gregorio Marañón or 12 de Octubre, in Madrid.
