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Category: Cell-Mediated Immune Function

Vaccine Basics 101: What We Know About the Different Types

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, there are three main types of vaccines.  The thing they all have in common is that they intend to elicit an immune response in the host.  How they go about triggering the immune response is quite different.  Here is a general summary of the three types of vaccines:   Whole Pathogen Vaccine The entire structure of the pathogen (which is a harmful virus or bacteria) is introduced to a patient.  ... Read More
at Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Should COVID Vaccines Engage T-Cells?

  Leading immunology researchers suggest the answer is YES. In the case of existing COVID vaccines, immunity comes from B-cells, which are immune cells that produce antibodies.  But there is another arm to our immune system – the underrated T-cell – that that is too often overlooked in vaccine development, according to recent research.  Evidence suggests T-cell immunity may confer longer lasting protection and may explain why some people fare better when infected w... Read More
at Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Do T-Cells Hold the Key to Long Lasting Immunity from COVID?

  In patients who have confirmed COVID infections, many don’t have detectable levels of antibodies in their blood, yet these same patients do have T-cells with receptor memory specific to the COVID virus.    T-cells may hold the key to long lasting immunity against this virus. As antibodies wane over time, research suggests T-cells confer longer lasting protection from COVID and its variants. Although antibody immunity has received the bulk of attention in COVID cove... Read More
at Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Can Healthy T Cell Function Improve Vaccine Efficacy?

  Although it may be too early to say, some scientists suggest the answer is yes.  In a recent editorial in a vaccine focused medical journal, some argue that the time is ripe for a “T-cell focused approach” to vaccine development.  Historically, vaccine development focuses on antibody production (B-cells) against viruses, but overwhelming research on the human immune response to SARS-CoV2 points to T-cell function as the main driver of lasting immunity.  Acc... Read More
at Thursday, January 21, 2021

Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 May Come from T-cells More Than Antibodies

In many people, antibodies may not be the superstars of lasting immunity against the virus that causes COVID, according to recently published research (January 2021) from a German university, which suggests T cells may be the key to lasting immunity.   In this study, 78% of volunteers for convalescent plasma donations, who had been confirmed positive via PCR testing for the SARS-CoV2 virus, did not have detectable antibodies in their blood.  However, all of them did show T-cel... Read More
at Thursday, January 21, 2021

The T-cell is Fast Becoming the Superstar of Fighting COVID

  T-lymphocytes, the type of white blood cell that plays a key role in fighting infections, are at the center of a recent study on why some patients fare worse than others when infected with the COVID virus.  According to research published in a well-known immunology journal, patients with mild or asymptomatic COVID had both higher numbers and better functioning T-cells (aka T-lymphocytes). In fact, patients who fared worse consistently displayed T-cells that were literally ex... Read More
at Thursday, January 21, 2021

Serum vs Intracellular Nutritional Testing: The Difference Matters

  What is serum testing? A serum test is simply a laboratory test that detects something in the liquid (which would essentially be the plasma) part of blood, as opposed to a laboratory test that detects something in the solid part (which would be the red and white blood cells) of the blood. Since blood is made of both cells and plasma, the term “blood test” is not very specific, as it could refer to either. However, the term “serum test” is specific – it ... Read More
at Monday, January 11, 2021