A T-cell test developed by Adaptive Biotechnologies could become the first commercially available test of its kind, and it may be more effective at detecting past COVID-19 infections than antibody tests, reports CNN.
Researchers analyzed blood tests from 70 people who had confirmed COVID-19 tests two months earlier. The tests came from people in Vo, Italy, where the virus spread quickly at the start of the pandemic. The T-cell test fared better at detecting positive results, missing 3 percent of cases (2), compared to 23 percent of missed cases (16) using the antibody test. Since all of the 70 blood tests came from people with past confirmed cases of the virus, all 70 should have delivered a positive result.
Researchers also gauged the T-cell test's accuracy in 2,200 people who tested negative for COVID-19, with the T-cell test delivering 45 positive results. Most of those cases were assumed to be asymptomatic, researchers told CNN. A total of 25 had symptoms at some point, lived with someone who was infected or both.
The results have not yet been published and were presented in an Adaptive Biotechnologies investors' call Nov. 10, according to CNN. The company plans to commercially launch the test later this month and apply for emergency use authorization from the FDA.
An earlier study found a robust T-cell response was present six months after initial COVID-19 infection.
More articles on public health:
Biden forms COVID-19 task force; Pfizer's vaccine 90% effective, early data shows — 6 updates
COVID-19, flu deaths increased in early October: 4 CDC findings
24 states where COVID-19 is spreading fastest, slowest: Nov. 11