THE SCIENTIST: Monkeys Develop Protective Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2

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It’s unclear how long this protective immunity lasts. Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, points out that the study is very short in duration. It’s too soon to say whether the researchers’ observations are due to the immediate, initial antibody response to the virus or to a long-lasting immune memory.

Typically, viral infection triggers plasma B cells to produce antibodies, but, eventually, memory B cells, which survive for long periods of time, are also stimulated to differentiate into plasma B-cells that generate more-targeted and more-effective antibodies upon re-encountering the same pathogen. It’s not clear whether the antibody surge the team observed is part of the “stage when [initial] antibody levels are still dropping off, rather than a true memory response,” Cruickshank writes to The Scientist in an email. In addition, the study only followed the immune responses of two macaques. “These are really tiny numbers to infer anything,” she adds.