A test to measure your COVID immunity? It could soon be available in US
A rapid blood test that can measure a person’s immunity to COVID-19 with quick turnaround results could be made available in the U.S. soon.
The Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency in charge of regulating medicines and biological products, is currently assessing the test created by Mount Sinai Health System researchers, the health system said in a June 13 news release. The test has received certification for commercial use in Europe.
So how does it work?
The test measures the activation of an individual’s T cells, which are white blood cells that help protect the body from a virus by fighting it off, and is different from COVID-19 antibody testing, according to the release and a study published in Nature Biotechnology on the test’s function. It can be performed in under 24 hours.
This means it can assess “the population’s cellular immunity and broadly test the efficacy of novel vaccines,” Dr. Ernesto Guccione, a professor of oncological sciences at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute in New York City, said in a statement.
“Long-term protection from viral infection is mediated by both antibodies and T cell response,” the release said. Both are a part of the immune system.
In the study, authors mentioned that COVID-19 “specific T cells may be present in the absence of antibodies.”
Protection against COVID-19 from antibodies, which can be found in the body following an infection or vaccination against the virus, is known to wane over time.
“We know that vulnerable populations don’t always mount an antibody response, so measuring T cell activation is critical to assess the full extent of a person’s immunity,” Guccione said.
He noted in the release that the omicron coronavirus variant, which accounts for the majority of cases in the U.S., can “evade” the effect of antibodies.
This highlights the need for tests “that can measure T cells, which are more effective against emerging variants of concern,” Guccione said.
While there is currently an FDA-authorized COVID-19 test that detects T cells, Guccione told Time that it is “labor and time-intensive.”
The test is called T Detect and was created by Adaptive Biotechnologies, according to the FDA. It was authorized for emergency use in March 2021.
In the study, researchers wrote that “a lack of rapid, user-friendly, accessible, scalable and accurate diagnostic methods to quantify cellular immunity prevents large population studies, affecting long-term vaccination strategies and public health responses to global pandemics.”
Study co-author Dr. Jordi Ochando, an assistant professor of oncological sciences at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute, called their rapid blood test “a flexible strategy that can be easily implemented” in the release.
“To have a complete view of the state of our immune and the potential levels of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is important to monitor the cellular response to the virus,” Ochando told McClatchy News in a statement.
He added that the test “may allow us to elaborate more educated public health decisions.”
Meanwhile, when it comes to the potential of the U.S. population achieving ultimate immunity against COVID-19, or herd immunity, it may be unlikely, National Institute of Health experts wrote in a paper published in March in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
This is “due to a combination of factors that include features of the virus as well as current societal dynamics,” a news release accompanying the paper said.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 9:10 AM with the headline "A test to measure your COVID immunity? It could soon be available in US."
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