• Immunological signature against SARS-CoV

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wednesday, March 09, 2022 21:30:48
    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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