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T cells may fare better against omicron than neutralizing antibodies.

Still, neutralizing antibodies that circulate in the blood are only one small piece of the immune response. Another arm appears largely undamaged.

Immune cells called T cells can either raise the call to arms when they detect the coronavirus or are capable of killing infected cells. T cells patrol the body searching for signs of the coronavirus. The cells identify fragments of viral proteins by doing cellular handshakes to check if cells are sending up red flags that the coronavirus has invaded. A red flag kicks the immune response into high gear.

It seems that many of the viral fragments that T cells recognize aren’t the parts of omicron with mutations, researchers report in a preliminary study posted December 9 at bioRxiv.org, meaning the immune cells will probably still help protect people from getting really sick.

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