Oncimmune Share News (ONC)

(Sharecast News) - Oncimmune announced the publication of a paper arising from the research collaboration with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday, focusing on the sex-specific autoimmune reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 - the virus which causes Covid-19 - following mildly symptomatic infection.
The AIM-traded firm said the paper also looked at the prolonged effects of Covid-19 "well beyond" the initial infection and recovery phase.

It said the study focussed on understanding how Covid-19 infection affected a person's immune system in ways that could persist over time.

The research discovered that Covid-19 can trigger a broad autoantibody response that could last "well beyond" the initial infection and recovery phase, even among individuals that were only mildly affected, or without any symptoms at all.

It said the research team used Oncimmune's Covid-19 autoantibody profiling panel, which it described as an "advanced panel of serological measures" to understand which parts of the adaptive immune system were still activated for up to six months following full apparent recovery from the initial Covid-19 infection.

The results showed that a wide array of autoantibodies remained elevated, including those linked to autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Oncimmune said the study, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, suggested that Covid-19 infection led to a "persistent activation of antibodies" against multiple different organ systems and tissues, many of which were linked to classic autoimmune diseases that typically affected women more than men.

In the research, however, men were more affected than women.

The company said the study was the first to report both the presence of elevated autoantibodies after mild or asymptomatic infection, and their persistence over time.

"As the life science industry continues to work intensely to research and respond to the effects of Covid-19, and specifically to understand the immune system response to the disease, we are delighted to see this publication that further validates the 'ImmunoINSIGHTS' infectious diseases panel and contributes to the knowledge base so that clinical outcomes from the disease can improve," said chief executive officer Adam Hill.

At 0914 GMT, shares in Oncimmune Holdings were down 1.49% at 171.4p.