With a sixth wave that has broken records for infections, finding someone who has not been infected with covid in the last weeks it is really difficult. And yet there are. People who dodge the virus time after time and don’t seem to be affected by it even though they have it even at home. No one is surprised anymore by the cases of families in which some members are infected and others are not, despite sharing a house, and even a bed in the case of couples. How could this happen? A scientific study carried out in London and Milan has discovered it.
In previous research, it was already shown that a good part of the population (38% of the people who participated in the study) had a important cellular defense against coronavirus because they possessed cellular immunity. And this despite the fact that they had never been exposed to covid and, of course, had never contracted the disease. That is, they had natural defenses to face an ailment with which they had never been in contact.
Now, a latest study in this regard, published in the journal ‘Nature Immunology’ and carried out in Milan and London, as well as in other European cities, reveals the importance of innate immunity, which is none other than the one generated from children. In innate immunity, MbI (Mannose Binding Lectin, an element on which the study has focused) is very present, which is one of the so-called “functional ancestors of antibodies“.
The MBI contains proteins capable of attacking the virus in a similar way that antibodies would, which would explain why a person is able to deal with the virus naturally and without having previously established contact with it. “We discovered that Mbl binds to the spike protein of the virus and blocks it,” explains Professor Alberto Mantovani, scientific director of part of the project. “And we have verified – he adds – that MbI is capable of blocking the virus with all the variants tested, included Omicron“.
In fact, in laboratory tests, MbI “proved to be slightly less potent than the antibodies produced by patients recovered from covid,” added another of the scientists participating in the study.
The goal now is to know whether MbI can be turned into a drug. “The road is long,” announces Professor Cecilia Garlanda, research coordinator. For now, MbI has already been used “as a therapy in subjects with complete energy deficiency and has been well tolerated,” he describes, which opens the door to hope, although he insists that, today, it is best to get vaccinated to get the antibodies needed to fight the virus.
What is innate immunity
Is he protection system with which we are all born and that is activated from the moment of our birth to give us natural barriers against external agents. Innate immunity is the body’s first line of defense against viruses, bacteria and other pathogens that can attack our body and make us sick.
It includes cells of the immune system that attack these viruses by developing a joint and appropriate response to the problem at hand while waiting for the body to prepare itself with a complete and targeted defense, the so-called acquired immunity. This is the immunity that we accumulate thanks to having been exposed to viruses, having overcome diseases or, artificially, having received vaccines. The antibodies that are generated with acquired immunity, especially those that are achieved naturally (contact with pathogens and diseases), are much more durable and resistant than the protection provided by innate immunity.
Some of the components of innate immunity are cough (prevents bacteria from entering our body through the respiratory system), tear enzymes, mucus (prevents pathogens from ascending from the nose into the body ), skin oil, or even stomach acids.
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