StemCell Therapy

Wells: Is there any downside of giving people plasma, even if you dont know if its going to be specifically helpful to them?

Hamblin: There theoretically shouldnt be, but there could, and that is the reason that you dont just authorize these things, that you have an FDA to make sure that something is safe and effective ...

Kola: It seems like people have antibodies within three months of them having COVID-19. And I definitely had antibodies back in May when I was given an antibody test, but then, given the news out of Hong Kong, it looks like those antibodies might wane over time? When I imagine the plasma, am I imagining blood that has actual antibodies in it, or does it have the memory of how to make antibodies? Whats actually in the plasma?

Hamblin: Thats a great question Youre just getting the antibodies themselves. The act of producing them will involve the white blood cells that should be taken out of plasma

Wells: Theyre the things that make the antibodies ... and that do have the memory of how to make them?

Hamblin: Right When you transmit plasma, youre not teaching someone to make antibodies. Thats what happens by exposing them to the virus. Thats vaccination. Its called passive immunization, where you temporarily have these antibodies until your blood clears them out. Theyre gone, and youd theoretically have to get another transfusion.

Kola: So there would be the possibility that, having had COVID-19 in March, and maybe being called upon to donate plasma in October, my blood might not have the antibodies anymore that it had in May.

Hamblin: Yeah, that remains possible.

Kola: Wow.

Wells: Is that upsetting?

Kola: I think its like much to do with COVID: Just one of the sort of confusing complexities of it is that I know that I had the antibodies at one point. I cant know for sure that I have them now without another antibody test. And being someone who had it relatively early, my experience of the virus is myself and everyone around me learning about it almost in real time ...

Hamblin: Well, if it helps reassureI guess Katherine can explain the immunology here, because we had a whole episode on thisbut there is more to your bodys memory than just the presence of antibodies themselves. There are immune-messaging pathways such that even if you lost your antibodies, its possible that your body might be able to kind of quickly make new ones and call them back and have other ways of fighting off this virus so that, if you are reinfected, it is not so bad, even if you dont actively have the antibodies.

Kola: Can you explain how people like me who had COVID-19 and are hopeful about immunity should interpret the information from Hong Kong, because that was obviously, on the face of it, quite scary for people whove had an experience of COVID that they wouldnt wish to go through again.

Here is the original post:
Listen: Plasma and Immunity - The Atlantic

This entry was posted on September 2, 2020 at 3:51 am and is filed under Immune System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |