COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs


Authors: Michael Marshall Growing evidence suggests that the coronavirus causes ‘brain fog’ and other neurological symptoms through multiple mechanisms. How COVID-19 damages the brain is becoming clearer. New evidence suggests that the coronavirus’s assault on the brain could be multipronged: it might attack certain brain cells directly, reduce blood flow to brain tissue or trigger […]

COVID-19 survivors may possess wide-ranging resistance to the disease


Authors: Rajee Suri rajee.suri@emory.edu Recovered COVID-19 patients retain broad and effective longer-term immunity to the disease, suggests a recent Emory University study, which is the most comprehensive of its kind so far. The findings have implications for expanding understanding about human immune memory as well as future vaccine development for coronaviruses. The longitudinal study, published […]

Covid-19 natural immunity compared to vaccine-induced immunity: The definitive summary


Authors: DATED: AUGUST 6, 2021 BY SHARYL ATTKISSON Updated Aug. 6 with CDC analysis of Kentucky (unvaccinated Kentuckians had “2.34 times the odds of reinfection“ compared with fully vaccinated) and national analysis in Israel (vaccinated Israelis were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection). More below. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) became […]

Adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in severe versus mild individuals


Authors: Fan Zhang, Rui Gan, Ziqi Zhen, Xiaoli Hu, Xiang Li, Fengxia Zhou, Ying Liu, Chuangeng Chen, Shuangyu Xie, Bailing Zhang, Xiaoke Wu & Zhiwei Huang Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy volume 5, Article number: 156 (2020)  Abstract The global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has affected more than eight million people. There is an urgent need to investigate how the adaptive immunity is established in COVID-19 patients. In this […]

Adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19


Authors: Alessandro Sette1,2 and Shane Crotty1,2,∗ Abstract The adaptive immune system is important for control of most viral infections. The three fundamental components of the adaptive immune system are B cells (the source of antibodies), CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells. The armamentarium of B cells, CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells has differing roles in different viral infections and in vaccines, and […]

Adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19


Authors: Alessandro Sette 1, Shane Crotty 2 Abstract The adaptive immune system is important for control of most viral infections. The three fundamental components of the adaptive immune system are B cells (the source of antibodies), CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells. The armamentarium of B cells, CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells has differing roles in different viral infections […]

Walking down the memory lane with SARS-CoV-2 B cells


Authors: Natalia T Freund, Motti Gerlic, Ben A Croker The end of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is in sight. We have scientists to thank for that. However, while years of meticulous research by vaccinologists, molecular biologists and immunologists provided the framework for rapid deployment of vaccines, we are still learning what constitutes an effective lifelong […]

Not just antibodies: B cells and T cells mediate immunity to COVID-19


Authors: Rebecca J. Cox & Karl A. Brokstad Nature Reviews Immunology volume 20, pages581–582 (2020) Recent reports that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 are not maintained in the serum following recovery from the virus have caused alarm. However, the absence of specific antibodies in the serum does not necessarily mean an absence of immune memory. Here, we discuss our current understanding of the […]

COVID-19 progression linked to B cell activation


Authors: By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD The disease course of COVID-19 is diverse, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal respiratory failure. Emory University scientists have been working to uncover the immunological reasons behind this heterogeneity. A recent study on B cells, published on the preprint server medRxiv* in April 2020, shows that extrafollicular B cells could be a marker […]

Rapid generation of durable B cell memory to SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins in COVID-19 and convalescence


Authors: Gemma E Hartley 1, Emily S J Edwards 1, Pei M Aui 1, Nirupama Varese 1 2, Stephanie Stojanovic 3, James McMahon 4 5, Anton Y Peleg 4 6, Irene Boo 7, Heidi E Drummer 7 8 9, P Mark Hogarth 1 10 11, Robyn E O’Hehir 1 2 3, Menno C van Zelm 12 2 Abstract Lasting immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection is questioned because serum antibodies decline in convalescence. However, functional immunity is mediated by long-lived memory T and B (Bmem) cells. Therefore, we generated fluorescently-labeled […]