Tissues, rest, fluids and over-the-counter medicine: That’s how millions of Americans fight back against the common cold.
Infections usually involve mild symptoms like sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, and a cough, which often resolve within a week or two. Still, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 22 million days of school and work are missed due to these infections.
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A new study from Duke University is helping explain why so many of us keep getting sick with colds year after year, even if our bodies have fought off similar infections before.
“The virus we’re looking at in this study is called 229E,” explained Daniel Wrapp with the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.
Wrapp, an assistant professor in medicine at Duke University, explained that the virus is a cousin of COVID-19 and causes cold symptoms.
Tools developed during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Wrapp and his team to take a new approach, studying human samples from people sick with cold symptoms.
“The virus that causes COVID-19 and this 229E virus, even though the disease symptoms are extremely different, the viruses work in fairly similar ways,” Wrapp said.
The team found that antibodies can target a specific part of the virus’s spike protein — the key structure on the virus’s surface that allows it to enter our cells. By blocking that part of the spike, these antibodies can neutralize the virus and prevent infection.
“We've seen very similar things in the context of COVID-19. So, it's interesting that our immune system is capable of recognizing these two very different proteins and neutralizing these two very different viruses in similar ways,” Wrapp added.
The researcher said the team tested different historical strains of the 229E virus spanning back to the 1960s. He shared that the antibodies became less effective over time as the virus gradually evolved.
“That was one of the more interesting parts of the study for me,” Wrapp noted. “Even though we make these effective immune responses, people continually get sick with these every few years. Part of the reason for that is as our body learns to recognize these viruses, the viruses have to then evolve in order to keep infecting and replicating. That’s how they reproduce.”
Wrapp explained our immune systems are essentially trying to “hit a moving target”.
He continued, “Eventually, the virus will evolve to the point where these antibodies no longer recognize that mutated spike protein, and you’re susceptible to infection again.”
The study was part of a collaboration between Duke researchers and virologists at the University of North Carolina. Wrapp shared the goal for the team moving forward is to use these findings to develop targeted therapies that better target these viruses responsible for cold symptoms.
Colds for most Americans result in mild infections, but can be more serious in vulnerable populations like young children, older adults, and those with weakened immune symptoms.
“In infants, you have to worry about the development of croup, which can be more serious,” Wrapp cautioned. “In the elderly, oftentimes, these infections can lead to more severe symptoms, like pneumonia. We’re really interested in potentially protecting these more vulnerable populations.”
Wrapp noted getting a vaccine for the cold at your local pharmacy is still a way away. He said current data seems to indicate the viruses responsible for colds change more slowly than influenza, which could lead to a vaccine that’s needed every few years instead of an annual dose.