This is a quick overview of the difference between testing for antibodies and using the new T cell tests to check for immune response. I’m not going to explain T cells as I did that in a video, Also, to make this easier to read, in this post I’ll refer to Covid 19/ SARS-coV-2 as ‘covid’.
*Note: If you have had a covid vaccine, testing for antibodies will not be accurate (CDC recommends not to test for antibodies after a vaccine for this reason).
Are you curious if you previously had covid?
Want to know more about what your system is doing with immune responses to covid for the future?
Do you think you had covid last year and the antibody test came up negative?
If yes to any of the above, you may wish to do the T-cell test, and, you might not.
Our adaptive immune system (miracle within our body) has B cells (think antibodies) and T cells. Both have a role in immune function and have a protective role in helping your immune system detect/ protect you from foreign pathogens.
Basically stated, antibodies can change faster than some T cells so the T cell tests (that test the memory T cells) can offer a longer range view, meaning you may test negative on the antibody tests for IgG antibodies (the longer range antibodies, see my video for more) and still show positive for the memory T cells to prove you had covid recently.
Neither the existence of covid antibodies or memory T cells is indefinite protection (neither is a vaccine). According to recent research we still don’t know how long either lasts in the body and every body is unique so one person could have persistent memory T cells for covid that last years from now while another person with a different genetic map could have memory T cells that last 6 months.
Does it mean you never had covid if you are negative on a T cell and antibody test now? No, it doesn’t. Again, we don’t know how long either antibodies or memory T cells will last in your system right now. While this is being studied, the vaccines are making this harder to study as they change what can be tested and how.
Who might benefit most from this information is what the media calls ‘long haulers’ as it could provide information that is coming up negative on the antibody tests to help them identify the care they need. Again, however, we don’t know how long the T cell response stays active in the body so we cannot say this test is going to be definitive on saying whether people had covid. Also, many ‘long-haulers’ are getting the vaccines and we don’t know the effects of this on T-cell testing yet. We know the vaccine will make current antibody testing inaccurate (excluding possibly the new test that came out in March that I’m still researching data on).
Another way to say that is, as we know the vaccine will nullify the efficacy of an antibody test, we don’t know yet the effects of the mRNA or other vaccinations on T cell activity so we cannot say if the T cell test post vaccine would be worth it either. The company states they don’t have data on this yet.
So my thoughts? if you think you had covid in the past six months and want more information on what your body is doing to protect you right now against covid, try the antibody test first, you can run it yourself at quest or labcorp (see their websites) in most cases for about $50. Some states do make this more difficult so see if your state is on that list. If you have the money and want to also run the T cell test you can do that too through adaptive (https://www.t-detect.com) for $150 (a bit more if you take it to a lab).
One last thought on this, this is the first T cell test, if you are not in a rush, you could wait and see if another comes out that is less expensive. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more T cell testing going on soon, especially ways to test people after the vaccines. A challenge if you wait to take the T cell test is that you run the risk of the memory T cells not showing up the longer you wait.
On a positive, somewhat unrelated note, as someone who has worked with Lyme disease and chronic lyme clients for 20+ years, I am watching the research on the T-detect testing they are starting to work on for detecting chronic Lyme disease. An effective, accurate test there could be life-changing for so many who have been written off by standard medicine for not testing on the current, truly inadequate, lyme testing available.
Hope this is useful!
Blessings and good health, Satya
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