Russian military medical experts have identified factors affecting the production of antibodies to coronavirus

The level of antibodies to coronavirus decreases most rapidly in young men, and it lasts better and longer in older people, while a severe course, increased body weight and a high percentage of lung damage have a positive effect on the immunity produced, experts from the Military Medical Academy found out during the study. SM Kirov and laboratory service “Helix”. This was reported by Kommersant.

Experts from June 1, 2020 to August 1, 2021, within the framework of the “Response” research project, observed changes in the level of specific antibodies (IgG) in those who had undergone coronavirus of varying severity, including those in an asymptomatic form. In total, 1,421 people took part in the study – men and women aged 18 to 70 years, of whom 1205 were outpatients and 216 were patients who underwent inpatient treatment in four academy clinics with moderate and severe forms of COVID-19.

The study participants were divided into three age groups according to the WHO classification: young people (18 to 44 years old), middle-aged (45–59 years old) and elderly people (60–70 years old).

Moreover, all of them have not previously had COVID-19, have not been vaccinated, and do not have immunodeficiency, autoimmune and oncological diseases.

Researchers have found that in milder forms of the disease, the dynamics of antibody production depends on gender and age. So, in women, there is an increase in the concentration of antibodies by the 180th day from the onset of the disease, and in men, especially in young people, on the contrary, starting from the 90th day there is a tendency to a decrease in the level of immunoglobulins.

According to experts, the severity of the course of the coronavirus and the volume of lung tissue damage directly affect the level of class G immunoglobulins. In accordance with this, factors that determine a more severe course of the disease, including obesity, an increase in C-reactive protein, the number of days of fever and oxygen therapy, also lead to higher production of antibodies in the body.

Explaining this feature of their education, the medical director of the Helix laboratory service Dmitry Denisov said that the older age group “was distinguished by higher concentrations of antibodies” and “reacted more strongly to coronavirus infection than younger people”, since their immune system for life is more often faced with challenges.

According to the head of the Military Medical Academy. SM Kirov Evgenia Kryukova, the findings of the researchers only confirm the importance of vaccination for those who have recovered. “At the beginning of the epidemic, when the Wuhan strain was circulating, the incubation period was up to 14 days. If the strain had not changed, it would have allowed the immune system to remember contact with the coronavirus and be involved in the production of a high antibody titer. But the “delta” variant came, the incubation period dropped to 3-5 days. Now there is a new omicron strain, in which there is an even shorter period from the moment of contact to the moment of illness, and the immune system no longer has the ability to develop an antibody titer so as not to get sick, ”he said.