Immunological signature against SARS-CoV-2
Date:
March 9, 2022
Source:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita"t Mu"nchen
Summary:
Scientists have investigated how most people's immune defenses
are able to curb the coronavirus so effectively that pneumonia
does not occur.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
LMU scientists have investigated how most people's immune defenses are
able to curb the coronavirus so effectively that pneumonia does not occur.
==========================================================================
The immune defenses of most people are able to curtail the spread
of the SARS- CoV-2 virus in the body so effectively that they do
not get pneumonia. But researchers have been largely at a loss to
explain how exactly the invader is contained in the upper respiratory
tract. Scientists at LMU's University of Munich Hospital led by
Dr. med. Kami Pekayvaz, Alexander Leunig, Associate Professor
Dr. med. Konstantin Stark, and Dr. med. Leo Nicolai, working in
cooperation with other research institutions, have discovered that
patients with mild disease courses had a specific, effective antiviral upregulation of so-called interferon-stimulated genes. The team's results
have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
According to current research, 90 percent of infected persons are able
to successfully ward off SARS-CoV-2 such as to prevent a severe course
with infection of the lungs. To find out why this is the case, the team investigated blood samples and nasal swabs from over 100 patients -- and
did so using various methods for the analysis of genes, proteins, and
other molecules that play a role in an immune response. They combined
their findings with existing clinical data. Investigating patient
samples over the entire course of the disease was the main focus of the
study. First, the researchers closely monitored and analyzed a cohort
of patients with risk factors for a severe course of the disease, distinguishing patients with and without pulmonary involvement. The
findings obtained in this way were then validated in a large cohort of outpatients with mild courses of the disease.
"We discovered that early on in the disease, patients who had hardly
any or no symptoms at all exhibited a very strong antiviral response in
the immune cells in the blood," say the authors from the Medical Clinic
and Polyclinic I located in the Munich district of Grosshadern. The
response is characterized by upregulation of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). "You can picture these as a whole arsenal of proteins that cells
can use against viral intruders," explain the authors. "We think that this
type of immune response prevents further spread of the virus, as the body
is put on alert, meaning for example that the lung tissue is prepared
for the intruder." Moreover, in mild cases so-called natural killer
cells and T cells seem to be less aggressive towards other cells. This
probably prevents the body's own cells becoming damaged. Finally, there
was also an anti-inflammatory monocyte signature characteristic of a
protective response.
In summary, the researchers say they have found a "specific immunological signature" that can prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from spreading in
the body.
Interestingly, this immune response is initially independent of
antibodies, as they are produced later in the course of the illness.
"One goal now would be to modulate the immune system of high-risk patients
or of individuals after viral exposition to activate these antiviral mechanisms," say the authors. And: "Approaches already exist towards
this -- for example, nasal sprays have been used that trigger such a
response via interferon alfa or other mechanisms." These approaches
should now be optimized, urge the authors, noting that such promising strategies could also prove helpful in the next pandemic against other
viral pathogens than SARS-CoV-2.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita"t_Mu"nchen. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kami Pekayvaz, Alexander Leunig, Rainer Kaiser, Markus Joppich,
Sophia
Brambs, Aleksandar Janjic, Oliver Popp, Daniel Nixdorf,
Valeria Fumagalli, Nora Schmidt, Vivien Polewka, Afra Anjum,
Viktoria Knottenberg, Luke Eivers, Lucas E. Wange, Christoph Gold,
Marieluise Kirchner, Maximilian Muenchhoff, Johannes C. Hellmuth,
Clemens Scherer, Raquel Rubio-Acero, Tabea Eser, Flora Dea'k,
Kerstin Puchinger, Niklas Kuhl, Andreas Linder, Kathrin Saar,
Lukas Tomas, Christian Schulz, Andreas Wieser, Wolfgang Enard,
Inge Kroidl, Christof Geldmacher, Michael von Bergwelt-Baildon,
Oliver T. Keppler, Mathias Munschauer, Matteo Iannacone, Ralf
Zimmer, Philipp Mertins, Norbert Hubner, Michael Hoelscher,
Steffen Massberg, Konstantin Stark, Leo Nicolai. Protective
immune trajectories in early viral containment of non-pneumonic
SARS-CoV- 2 infection. Nature Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s41467-022- 28508-0 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220309104453.htm
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