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MOVE ASIDE ANTIBODY TESTS—Get ready for T-Cell testing for #COVID19 to identify past infection. Unlike antibodies that naturally wane, T-cells persist much longer. Of 70 COVID survivors, T-cell #COVID19 test ID’ed 97% of them, while antibody only 77%. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/health/covid-new-test-t-cells/index.html
2) The new T cell testing is awaiting FDA approval. “The data was announced Tuesday at an investors' call for Adaptive Biotechnologies, the company that makes the test. The company did not fund the study and the data has not been published...”
3) “Adaptive is planning to launch its T cell test commercially in late November and plans to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.”
4) “Once the body has fought off the invader, antibodies will usually wane in time.
"The source of the antibodies -- the factory that makes them -- dies off within a few months," said Akiko Iwasaki, @VirusesImmunity, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine.
"The source of the antibodies -- the factory that makes them -- dies off within a few months," said Akiko Iwasaki, @VirusesImmunity, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine.
5) “On the other hand, T cells stick around for a while.
"For other viruses they've been shown to persist for years. For this virus we don't know how long they last, but we would expect for a couple of years at least," she said.
"For other viruses they've been shown to persist for years. For this virus we don't know how long they last, but we would expect for a couple of years at least," she said.
6) “Not only do T cells stick around, but they remember how to fight off coronavirus specifically.
"You make a lot of them, and they live in lung tissue and other tissue effected by the virus -- they're just sitting right there," Iwasaki @VirusesImmunity said.
"You make a lot of them, and they live in lung tissue and other tissue effected by the virus -- they're just sitting right there," Iwasaki @VirusesImmunity said.
7) Another really good article about the new T cell #COVID19 test by @apoorva_nyc. She correctly points out that antibodies waning is not sign immunity is gone from it, just that antibodies naturally ramp down until needed again. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/t-cell-test-coronavirus-immunity.html
