Scott E. Hensley - May 12, 2021

Scott E. Hensley, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology, Director, Penn-CEIRR, University of Pennsylvania, "Immune history and SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility"

Our immune system has been imprinted during everyone’s early life by memory immune cells and antibodies. Dr. Hensley’s group ask if the immunity imprint of early life relates to individual heterogeneity of disease outcome and immune response after SARS-CoV-2 infection or the mortality difference. They have found that most humans have the antibodies or memory B cell responses to alpha and beta-coronavirus (or common coronavirus), and a small part of those antibodies have cross-reaction to SARS-CoV-2 virus, particularly to SARS-CoV-2 N protein (16.2%). Those pre-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 reactive antibodies are not protective or neutralizing. However, after SARS-CoV-2 infection, the antibodies against coronavirus OC43 (a common coronavirus) are enhanced, specifically against the S2 domain of OC43 spike protein. Moreover, there is no significant difference in OC43 antibodies between the survivors and the deceased from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Surprisingly, another group has found that recent beta-coronavirus infection is associated with a shorter symptom duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection.