Researchers have identified differences in the immune response to Covid-19, between people with no symptoms, compared to those suffering a more serious reaction to the virus.
The differences could help explain serious lung inflammation and blood clotting symptoms, and could be used to identify potential targets for developing therapies.
However, these protective B cells were missing in people with serious symptoms, indicating the importance of an effective antibody-associated immune response at the nose and other mucus passages.
While patients with mild to moderate symptoms had high levels of B cells and helper T-cells, those with serious symptoms had lost many of these immune cells, suggesting that this part of the immune system had failed in people with severe disease.
The study "helps us understand why some people get really sick while others fight off the virus without even knowing they have it. This new knowledge will help identify specific targets for therapy for patients that get sick with Covid-19", said Menna Clatworthy, Professor of Translational Immunology at the University of Cambridge.
The team performed single-cell sequencing from 800,000 individual immune cells, along with detailed analysis of cell surface proteins and antigen receptors found on immune cells in the blood.
(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT).
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