Why are there people who have not been infected with COVID-19? Research shows this
Researchers infected 36 people with the virus that causes COVID-19 to understand why some people seem to evade the virus. The answer was in his immune system.
ADVERTISINGA new study analyzed why some people don’t get sick Covid-19 by deliberately infecting a small number of healthy people under strictly controlled conditions.
Researchers administered the virus nasally 36 healthy adult volunteers who did not have COVID-19.. They analyzed the nose and blood cells of study participants and published their results.
They examined the nose and blood cells of study participants and published their findings in a journal. Nature.
They then used a technology called single cell sequencing study the genetic information (DNA and RNA) of individual cells.
“This is a unique opportunity to see what immune response to a new pathogenin adults who have not had COVID-19, and in a context in which factors such as timing of infection and comorbidities can be controlled,” Dr. Rik Lindeboom, study co-author from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, said in a statement. .
Gene that may prevent long-term infection
People who cleared the virus quickly did not have the typical generalized immune response. Instead they showed subtle immune responses.
According to researchers, high levels of activity a gene called HLA-DQA2 before infection could help these participants prevent long-term infection.
On the contrary, six people who developed long-term infection had a fast immune response in the blood but a slow one in the nosewhich allowed the virus to establish itself there.
“These results shed new light on the critical initial events that allow the virus to take over or quickly destroy it before symptoms appear,” said Dr. Marko Nikolic, another of the study authors, from University College London.
The researchers also found general patterns in T cell receptors (TCR), a protein on the surface of T cells designed to recognize specific antigens.
When the TCR binds to a pathogen represented by an infected or abnormal cell, it triggers T cell activation. T cells can directly kill infected cellsactivating other immune cells and helping long-term immunity by remembering the pathogen.
Findings from the Study and Preparing for Future Infections
This research has allowed us to better understand how immune cells communicate and may help develop treatments targeting T cells not only to fight COVID-19 but also other diseases.
“We now have a much better understanding of the full range of immune responses, which could lay the groundwork for develop potential treatments and vaccines that mimic these natural defense responses“, Nikolic said.
This study is part Atlas of Human Cellsan international collaborative group created in 2016 with the goal of mapping all human cells.