Children under 10 years of age who are infected with novel coronaviruses produce more antibodies than adolescents and adults, resulting in lower rates of severe disease, the study noted today.
The study authors said the findings help explain why children infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are less likely to become seriously ill compared to adults. More research is needed in this area, however, and there are believed to be many other influencing factors.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.
Weill Cornell Medicine examined nearly 32,000 antibody tests in New York City between April and August 2020 and found that among 1,200 children and 30,000 adults, a similar proportion showed signs of past infection: 17 percent versus 19 percent, respectively.
The researchers then examined a group of 85 children and 3,648 adults with confirmed disease to determine the concentration of immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies. This is a key type of neutralizing antibody, which is used to prevent cells from being attacked by an antigen or source of infection.
The study found that the median antibody concentration in 32 children between the ages of 1 and 10 was nearly five times higher than in 127 young adults between the ages of 19 and 24.
Finally, the researchers focused on 126 confirmed patients aged 1 to 24 years and found that none had a serious infection.
In this study group, immunoglobulin antibody concentrations in children aged 1 to 10 years were more than twice as high as those in adolescents aged 11 to 18 years; in turn, antibody concentrations in adolescents were more than twice as high as those in young adults aged 19 to 24 years.
The study authors write, “Our study shows that the difference in clinical presentation between pediatric and adult patients infected with COVID-19 may stem in part from an age-related immune response.”
“An Australian study published last month in the journal Nature Communications pointed out that children have a more activated “innate” immunity, which is the first line of defense for the immune system, and that the body begins to produce antibodies in Innate immunity, which includes neutrophils that patrol the body for infection at all times, is activated before antibodies are produced.
Another theory relates to the fact that children have fewer cellular receptors in the respiratory tract for ACE2, the cell membrane surface receptor that viruses have to penetrate to get to the inside of the cell, and it is through this channel that the new coronavirus runs to the cell and multiplies.
One of the paradoxical findings of the new study is that antibody concentrations are lowest in young adults, but then increase with age, but today it is the elderly who are the most vulnerable to serious infections.
The study authors admit that they cannot fully explain this phenomenon, but suggest that the higher hospitalization and mortality rates in the elderly may also be related to other diseases themselves.
Recent Comments