TWiV reviews approvals of the first gene therapy for severe hemophilia A in adults and a monoclonal antibody to prevent RSV respiratory disease in babies and toddlers, and a common allele of HLA that mediates asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection through pre-existing T cell immunity due to previous exposure to common cold coronaviruses.
Paul Offit returns to TWiV for a discussion of SARS-CoV-2 bivalent boosters containing ancestral and Omicron spike mRNAs, including their composition, why they are being recommended by CDC, and who would benefit the most from them.
This episode of TWiV is focused on COVID-19 vaccines and antibodies: who should get boosters, whether a variant matched mRNA vaccine is superior to a historical vaccine, and how the interval between vaccination and infection influences the quality of the antibody response.
Vincent and Brianne review the need to better understand T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection to better inform public health decisions, and how IL-1 and IL-1ra are important regulators of the inflammatory response to RNA vaccines.
Alessandro Sette returns to TWiV to discuss the observation that SARS-CoV-2 vaccination induces T cells that are able to cross-recognize variants Alpha to Omicron.
Shane Crotty returns to TWiV to review the immunology of COVID-19, including differences between infection and vaccination, increased breadth of antibodies after infection followed by vaccination, the roles of T cells, and whether booster vaccinations are needed.
TWiV reviews SARS-CoV-2 infection of wild white-tailed deer in the US, mRNA vaccine-mediated protection by spike-specific T cells before detection of neutralizing antibodies, and recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection in T-cell depleted rhesus macaques.
Immunologist Shane Crotty joins TWiV to discuss the antibody and T cell responses to infection with SARS-CoV-2, followed by answers to listener questions.
In this mid-week episode of Earth’s Virology Podcast, we analyze SARS-CoV-2 transmission among youths at a summer camp, adaptation to mice by passage, the importance of T cells for recovery from COVID-19, and listener questions.
Vincent, Dickson, and Rich meant to do an all-email episode, but first they review results of the Blood XMRV Scientific Research Working Group, and partial retraction of the paper associating XMRV with chronic fatigue syndrome.