Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
Department of Psychology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA.
Libyan J Med. 2023 Dec;18(1):2209949. doi: 10.1080/19932820.2023.2209949.
While severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes significant morbidity and mortality in humans, there is a wide range of disease outcomes following virus exposures. Some individuals are asymptomatic while others develop complications within a few days after infection that can lead to fatalities in a smaller portion of the population. In the present study, we have analyzed the factors that may influence the outcome of post-SARS-CoV-2 infection. One factor that may influence virus control is pre-existing immunity conferred by an individual's past exposures to endemic coronaviruses (eCOVIDs) which cause the common cold in humans and generally, most children are exposed to one of the four eCOVIDs before 2 years of age. Here, we have carried out protein sequence analyses to show the amino acid homologies between the four eCOVIDs (i.e. OC43, HKU1, 229E, and NL63) as well as examining the cross-reactive immune responses between SARS-CoV-2 and eCOVIDs by epidemiologic analyses. Our results show that the nations where continuous exposures to eCOVIDs are very high due to religious and traditional causes showed significantly lower cases and low mortality rates per 100,000. We hypothesize that in the areas of the globe where Muslims are in majority and due to religious practices are regularly exposed to eCOVIDs they show a significantly lower infection, as well as mortality rate, and that is due to pre-existing cross-immunity against SARS-CoV-2. This is due to cross-reactive antibodies and T-cells that recognize SARS-CoV-2 antigens. We also have reviewed the current literature that has also proposed that human infections with eCOVIDs impart protection against disease caused by subsequent exposure to SARS-CoV-2. We propose that a nasal spray vaccine consisting of selected genes of eCOVIDs would be beneficial against SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic coronaviruses.
虽然严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）在人类中引起严重的发病率和死亡率，但病毒暴露后疾病的结果有很大的差异。一些人无症状，而另一些人在感染后几天内出现并发症，导致一小部分人口死亡。在本研究中，我们分析了可能影响 SARS-CoV-2 感染后结果的因素。一个可能影响病毒控制的因素是个体过去接触地方性冠状病毒（eCOVIDs）所产生的固有免疫力，这些病毒导致人类普通感冒，通常大多数儿童在 2 岁之前会接触到其中一种 eCOVID。在这里，我们进行了蛋白质序列分析，以显示四种 eCOVID（即 OC43、HKU1、229E 和 NL63）之间的氨基酸同源性，并通过流行病学分析检查 SARS-CoV-2 和 eCOVID 之间的交叉反应性免疫反应。我们的结果表明，由于宗教和传统原因，连续接触 eCOVID 的国家发病率非常高，每 10 万人的病例和死亡率都很低。我们假设，在穆斯林占多数的全球地区，由于宗教习俗，他们经常接触 eCOVID，因此感染率和死亡率明显较低，这是由于对 SARS-CoV-2 的固有交叉免疫力。这是由于交叉反应性抗体和 T 细胞识别 SARS-CoV-2 抗原。我们还回顾了当前的文献，这些文献也提出 eCOVID 的人类感染会对随后接触 SARS-CoV-2 引起的疾病提供保护。我们提出，一种由 eCOVID 选定基因组成的鼻腔喷雾疫苗将对 SARS-CoV-2 和其他致病性冠状病毒有益。
