Reply to Marakasova and Baranova, "MMR Vaccine and COVID-19: Measles Protein Homology May Contribute to Cross-Reactivity or to Complement Activation Protection".

Warren E. Licht,Jeffrey E. Gold,Larry P. Tilley,William H. Baumgartl,David J. Hurley,Balázs Rada

doi:10.1128/mbio.03682-20

Abstract

Marakasova and Baranova make a good, incremental step trying to explain the results of our paper, “Analysis of Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Titers of Recovered COVID-19 Patients” (1). We believe the predictable waning of mumps IgG titers over time allows mumps titers to serve as a proxy measure of overall MMR II vaccine persistence. Even though we observed a significant inverse correlation only with mumps virus titers, any of the components of MMR II alone or in tandem, including measles as Marakasova and Baranova suggest, could be responsible for what we observed. They present a conventional approach to matching protein sequence and structure to structures recognized by antibodies generated during and after vaccination or disease.

Highlights

Marakasova and Baranova make a good, incremental step trying to explain the results of our paper, “Analysis of Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Titers of Recovered COVID-19 Patients” (1)
The structures provided would likely represent weak to moderate affinity binding of some antibodies generated by the multivalent vaccine, MMR II
This binding would not provide much activation of local immunity if the weak to moderate affinity antibodies were present at low levels but would likely provide much more activation if a large quantity of low to moderate affinity antibodies were present to yield a high avidity binding situation that would persist long enough to activate monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells in the local tissues of the respiratory tract

Summary

Introduction

Marakasova and Baranova make a good, incremental step trying to explain the results of our paper, “Analysis of Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Titers of Recovered COVID-19 Patients” (1). The structures provided would likely represent weak to moderate affinity binding of some antibodies generated by the multivalent vaccine, MMR II. This binding would not provide much activation of local immunity if the weak to moderate affinity antibodies were present at low levels but would likely provide much more activation if a large quantity of low to moderate affinity antibodies were present to yield a high avidity binding situation that would persist long enough to activate monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells in the local tissues of the respiratory tract.

Results

Conclusion