SARS-CoV-2, the endless race between immunity and viral evolution: Lessons learned Authors Edwards Pradenas Benjamin Trinité Bonaventura Clotet Julià Blanco DOI: 10.2436/20.1501.02.229 Keywords: coronaviruses, viral evolution, cellular immunity, humoral immunity, vaccines. Abstract The more than three years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been marked by technology. Vaccines have been developed in record time with enormous and sustained protection, mediated by cellular responses, against severe disease. However, they failed to maintain stable levels of circulating antibodies, limiting their effectiveness against infection. We have learned that the combination of natural immunity (due to previous infection) and vaccination presents functional advantages, with the presence of immunity at the mucosal level (the site of virus replication) and greater amplitude of viral variant recognition. Lastly, we have followed the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 towards improvement of its transmissibility by escaping the immune control imposed by antibodies. This factor still causes new infections and deaths in vulnerable people and has led to the development of new vaccines adapted to emerging viral variants. The huge volume of immunological and virological information which has been acquired and the emerging technologies which are being developed should make it possible to design pan-coronavirus vaccines against different viral variants and to administer them at the mucosal level, where the immune response against respiratory viruses is required. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Downloads PDF (Català) Published 2024-12-09 Issue Vol. 74 (2024) Section Articles License The intellectual property of the articles belongs to the respective authors. At the time of submitting the articles to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, authors accept the following terms: — Authors assign to the SCB (a subsidiary of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, public communication (including communication through social networks) and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, in any form and medium, including digital platforms. The Publications Committee reserves the right to accept or refuse submitted articles and the right to make any editorial changes it deems appropriate. If the suggested changes are accepted by authors, they should re-submit the article with such changes. — Authors answer to the SCB for the authorship and originality of submitted articles. In other words, authors assure that submitted articles do not contain fragments of works by other authors or fragments of their own previously published works; that the content of articles is original, and that the copyright of third parties is not infringed upon. Authors accept this responsibility and undertake to hold harmless the SCB for any loss or damage resulting from non-compliance with this obligation. Furthermore, they should include a statement in articles submitted to the journal regarding their responsibility for the content of the articles. — Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles, and they should moreover ensure that images, videos, etc., have been created with the consent of the individuals appearing in them, and that material belonging to third parties is clearly identified and acknowledged as such within the text. Likewise, authors should provide the respective consents and authorisations to the SCB when submitting articles. — The SCB is exempt from any liability arising from the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors. In all cases, it undertakes to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies, if necessary. — Unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, the contents published in the journal are subject to an Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Spain (by-nc-nd) license from Creative Commons, the full text of which may be consulted at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Therefore, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate articles as long as their authorship and publishing entity are acknowledged, and no commercial use is made of them nor derivative work produced from them. — The journal is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of published articles.
