mRNA vaccines spur lymph nodes for longer-term protection

Shafaq News/ A new scientific study on the novel coronavirus showed that mRNA vaccines spur lymph nodes for longer-term protection.

Along with inducing antibodies for immediate defense, mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 also stimulate the lymph nodes to generate immune cells that provide protection over the long term, a new study confirms.

The early wave of antibodies is generated by B cells called plasma blasts. In healthy volunteers, blood tests showed that two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine induced "a strong plasma blast response," said coauthor Ali Ellebedy of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The immune cells that will produce antibodies upon exposure to the virus in years to come - called memory B cells - are generated by germinal center B cells found only in lymph nodes near vaccine injection sites, his team explained in a paper currently undergoing peer review for possible publication in a Nature journal.

In repeated biopsies of volunteers' lymph nodes, "we saw a robust germinal center response," Ellebedy said.

The responses lasted at least seven weeks, "with no sign of cooling down anytime soon," he added.

"While we do not have long-term samples yet, it is safe to assume given the magnitude and persistence of the germinal center reaction that those individuals will develop a durable immune response" to mRNA vaccines. Moderna Inc's vaccine also uses mRNA technology.