Study Reveals How Immune System Deteriorates Due to Covid-19

Date:

a staff member tests samples of a potential COVID-19 vaccine at a production plant of SinoPharm in Beijing. In the global race to make a coronavirus vaccine, the state-owned Chinese company is boasting that it gave its employees, including top executives, experimental shots even before the government OK’d testing in people.

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Immunology, overcoming immune exhaustion is a major goal for the development of new therapies for cancer or severe viral infections

SYDNEY – In a major study, Australian researchers have identified mechanisms leading to the functional deterioration of the immune system in response to severe viral infections, such as HIV or Covid-19.

It is widely known that severe viral infections and cancer cause impairments to the immune system, including to T cells, a process called immune ‘exhaustion’.

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Immunology, overcoming immune exhaustion is a major goal for the development of new therapies for cancer or severe viral infections.

“This is an exciting finding, particularly in the context of Covid-19 as one of the big questions is why some people get severely sick, while others experience mild disease,” said study author Daniel Utzschneider from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

For the findings, the research team focused on the question of when and how T cells lose their function and become ‘exhausted’.

It was previously thought that during severe infections, T cells lost their function slowly and over long periods of time.

This research, however, shows that T cells can be impaired within just a few days. It also identified several new mediators of immune exhaustion that may be targeted in new therapies.

“We looked at both mild and overwhelming Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus infections in mice, which serves as a model for severe viral infections in humans, early after the onset of disease, and identified striking differences at the molecular and functional level,” Utzschneider said.

In response to overwhelming infections that are difficult to eliminate and may become chronic, the team were able to show that T cells down-regulate their function within days, while T cells responding to a weaker infection remained highly functional.

T cells are at the heart of immunotherapy for cancer. Therefore, understanding how a T cell function is impaired is central to improving these therapeutic approaches and applying them to other diseases, such as viral infections, they said.

“These findings are extremely exciting. Our data show that T cells could be manipulated during early stages of severe viral infection to improve their activity,” the study authors noted.

-IANS

theclarionindia
theclarionindiahttps://clarionindia.net
Clarion India - News, Views and Insights about Indian Muslims, Dalits, Minorities, Women and Other Marginalised and Dispossessed Communities.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

spot_imgspot_img

Popular

More like this
Related

Caste Controversy Erupts at Ashoka University

Tensions escalate in the Sonipat-based institution as students raise...

Security Beefed up Ahead of INDIA Bloc Protest in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday had said...

UN Expert Says She Faces Threats after Israel-Gaza Genocide Report

GENEVA - A United Nations expert who published a report saying...

ICJ Tells Israel to Ensure Urgent Assistance in Gaza

THE HAGUE - The world’s top court on Thursday...