Both are part of your immune system, but T cells become more specialized.
Your immune system: in these days of uncertainty and turmoil, this could be the one thing you feel free to feel thankful for. If you have an immune system that can work efficiently at full throttle, congratulations. You know it has helped return you to your best when you’ve most needed it. And if you have been following the ins and outs of the pandemic, you may also be well aware that this same system is constructed of many different parts, some of which are gaining more attention than others.
‘T cells’? ‘Antibodies’? When it comes to developing immunity to the novel coronavirus, these terms have been tossed around as our saviors in waiting. Will the COVID-19 vaccines produce a strong enough antibody response to do the trick? Will your T-cells help you stay safe over the long term? Good questions. The answers to them can waffle depending on who you are talking to.
William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School professor, has warned the antibodies people generate from the Moderna vaccine may not last as long as we’re hoping. Others feel it’s likely the vaccines may not offer long term immunity, but will still successfully prevent you from falling seriously sick, over the long term.
Are you feeling a bit lost in a sea of terminology? You’re not the only one. Here’s a refresher on the differences between your antibodies and T cells, as a brief refresher.
Antibodies
Your antibodies are an important part of your body’s response to infections. They are something your immune system produces and are proteins that are also called ‘immunoglobin’. When you fall sick, foreign substances, such as bacteria, toxins, or viruses enter your body. In response to this, antibodies are produced by your specialized white blood cells, called your B cells. When an antigen- the invader-attaches itself to the surface of a B cell, this tells it to mature into many clones. These mature B cells clone themselves, shooting out millions upon millions of antibodies into your bloodstream. These guys are ready to go and fight the invading antigens.
These antibodies then attach themselves to the invaders. This neutralizes them. Antibodies are known to remain in circulation in your body for months after first being produced, which is great news. This makes you immune to the foreign invader, at least for a while.
T Cells
Your T cells are also part of your immune system. These cells are one of two primary varieties of lymphocytes. T cells are born in your bone marrow and later move on to your thymus, where they become specialized.
T cells differ from antibodies in that they perform differentiated, specific functions. This happens once T cells mature and become either helper, cytotoxic, regulatory, or memory T cells, each with different roles in the immune system. Some types of T cells help B cells do their work, which leads to antibodies being produced. Memory T cells, another type, are cells that stay around in your body for a long time after you are first infected. These cells are antigen-specific. Memory T cells can recognize a pathogen that reinfects your body years later. When this happens, they are converted into something called effector T cells when re-exposed. Your body can then respond more rapidly to this infection, the second time around.
Both your antibodies and T cells play very important roles in fighting off COVID-19. It has been shown that people who have a stronger initial T cell response to the virus have a lesser chance of developing severe sickness. In patients who become very sick with COVID-19, their T cells often do not work well. Doctors aren’t yet sure why this happens, and more research is being done to figure out why some people fall so ill.
The Future
Experts are hopeful the COVID-19 vaccines will provide us with long enough immunity to end the pandemic. No one really knows how long they will protect us for, however. Some months ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci commented the protection of vaccines could wear off within a few months, but he was confident at that time that, once you are vaccinated, your memory T cells will provide you with protection for longer. You may still fall sick with COVID-19 but not severely.
Time will tell and scientists will no doubt learn much more about the virus and its vaccines in the coming year.
For information on the safety of vaccines and their history, click here.
photo credits: Meletios Verras/Shutterstock.com
