T cell responses in patients with COVID-19


The role of T cells in the resolution or exacerbation of COVID-19, as well as their potential to provide long-term protection from reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, remains debated. Nevertheless, recent studies have highlighted various aspects of T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection that are starting to enable some general concepts to emerge. For More Information: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0402-6

Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work


How COVID-19 Vaccines Work COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the illness. Different types of vaccines work in different ways to offer protection. But with all types of vaccines, the body is left with a supply of “memory” T-lymphocytes as well as B-lymphocytes […]

Immune T Cells May Offer Lasting Protection Against COVID-19


Much of the study on the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has focused on the production of antibodies. But, in fact, immune cells known as memory T cells also play an important role in the ability of our immune systems to protect us against many viral infections, including—it now appears—COVID-19. An […]

COVID-19 Attacks Endothelial Cells


The pandemic virus SARS-CoV-2 can enter the body via cells in the nose to cause the illness COVID-19. But we know now that it doesn’t stop there. Clinicians and scientists have found that it can attack many different organ systems. Researchers now are starting to catalog the ways that it can affect the cardiovascular system. A report published […]

The Specter of Endothelial Injury in COVID-19


Studies signal that damage to the endothelium—cells that cover blood vessels like wallpaper—could underpin the thrombosis and inflammation induced by coronavirus infection. The endothelium as a common theme in COVID-19 The endothelium comprises a single layer of cells that forms the interior lining of blood vessels throughout the body. The tissue physically insulates blood elements […]

COVID-19: towards understanding of pathogenesis


Since the end of 2019, COVID-19 has caused considerable mortality and morbidity worldwide, and become a priority of the global society. Better understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19 will provide important insight into its management. The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly. Although the cause was quickly identified as a new coronavirus named […]

Spike Proteins, COVID-19, and Vaccines


A recent study looks at the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, showing that they can cause some of the harm of COVID-19 by themselves. This is an important advance in our understanding of the disease and hopefully will lead to new therapeutic interventions. The spike protein is what gives the coronavirus family of viruses their […]

Simplifying Covid-19 Into One Mechanism: The Epithelial-endothelial Crosstalk


The Multifaceted Covid-19 We see all imaginable symptoms with Covid-19, which is supposed to be a pneumonia disease. Yet Covid-19 can affect the brain, peripheral nerves, olfaction, taste, throat, thyroid, liver, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, spleen, semen, skin, blood vessels, toes, and probably more to come. It’s intriguing how one virus, SARS-CoV-2, could cause so many symptoms. Is there actually a unifying mechanism of disease progression that could explain most […]

COVID-19 Autopsies Put Endothelial Damage, Angiogenesis in the Spotlight


More autopsy reports on COVID-19 patients, some from the United States, are helping researchers piece together a picture of a virus that damages endothelial cells, causing a clotting disorder that can lead to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli. “These people are in a hypercoagulant state, and early anticoagulation is important,” said Louis Maximilian Buja, […]

Clots, Strokes and Rashes: Is COVID a Disease of the Blood Vessels?


Whether it’s strange rashes on the toes or blood clots in the brain, the widespread ravages of COVID-19 have increasingly led researchers to focus on how the novel coronavirus sabotages blood vessels. As scientists have come to know the disease better, they have homed in on the vascular system — the body’s network of arteries, […]