Effect of specific humoral immunity and some non-specific factors on resistance of volunteers to respiratory coronavirus infection

Abstract

SUMMARYThirty-three volunteers were inoculated intranasally with coronavirus 229E, and their responses monitored by antibody rises, symptomatology and virus excretion. These were related to their pre-trial immune status as indicated by concentrations of specific antibodies and non-specific proteins in serum and nasal washings. Both circulating and local specific antibodies were associated with protection from infection and disease, but only specific IgA antibodies of either type appeared to shorten the period of virus shedding. Although total secretory IgA was significantly associated only with reduction of symptoms, total protein in nasal washings appeared to protect against infection also, indicating that other locally produced proteins, not identified, may be associated with resistance.Two of the many factors which may affect the concentration of circulating and local protective proteins and thus influence the outcome of virus inoculation, namely, sex of the volunteer and the interval since the previous cold, were examined. Male volunteers or volunteers who had had evidence of a recent respiratory infection were less likely to be infected, but if they were infected, they had lower clinical scores and stopped shedding virus earlier than the rest. These groups possessed higher concentrations of specific antibodies and non-specific proteins in their pre-challenge sera and/or nasal washings. The significance of these findings is discussed.

The Effects of Exercise on the Immune Parameters and Stress Hormones in Elite Sportswomen

“…While Mackinon and Smith (13,34), reports of the acute and chronic effects of exercise on the immune system other investigators emphasized that no matter the duration of the exercise there is always an increase in the parameters of the immune system (4,18). In another study on the topic, the IgG, IgA, and IgM levels in male marathon runners at rest have been reported to be within clinically normal limits (21).…”

“…Regular exercise has been reported to have several favorable effects on physiological, psychological, and immunological functions (7,13,27), and increase in the resistance against infections (14,25,30, and 32). Vigorous exercise, however, has been re-ported to have a negative effect on these functions (4,12,16,19). In elite sportswomen the effects of acute aerobic and anaerobic exercise on the immune and neuro-humoral system has not been fully investigated.…”

A Study of the Efficacy of the Immunomodulatory Compound 7-thia-8-oxoguanosine in Coronavirus 229E Infections in Human Volunteers

“…A convalescent sample of blood was taken 10 days after the end ofthe trial. Specific antibodies were assayed by ELISA Previous work indicates that the presence of high titre antibody correlates with resistance to lnfection (Callow, 1985). Differences in the frequency of colds and antibody rises between Efficacy of 7-thia-B-oxoguanosine 63 the drug" and placebo-treated groups were tested for significance using the chi-squared test with the correction of Yates.…”

The Common Cold -- My Favourite Infection: The Eighteenth Marjory Stephenson Memorial Lecture

“…The overall results were very informative. They showed for instance that, allowing for correlations between the various measurements, secretory and serum antibodies both had an effect on the volunteer response and reduced the risk of infection and illness (Callow, 1985). However the total protein content of the secretions was also associated with resistance to infection, and we wonder whether this is connected with earlier work which showed that breast milk and other secretions contain a factor, probably glycoprotein, that prevents plaque formation by a number of viruses (Matthews et al, 1976).…”