Pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2: the knowns and unknowns


Authors: Alessandro Sette 1 2, Shane Crotty 3 4 Abstract T cell reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 was observed in unexposed people; however, the source and clinical relevance of the reactivity remains unknown. It is speculated that this reflects T cell memory to circulating ‘common cold’ coronaviruses. It will be important to define specificities of these T cells and assess their association […]

A long-term perspective on immunity to COVID


Determining the duration of protective immunity to infection by SARS-CoV-2 is crucial for understanding and predicting the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical studies now indicate that immunity will be long-lasting. Authors: Andreas Radbruch & Hyun-Dong Chang Generating immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is of the utmost importance for bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control, protecting vulnerable […]

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 […]

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 […]