What is more important?
Scientists have found that T cells protect against COVID-19 better than antibodies
The results of digital modeling conducted by Chinese scientists have shown that T cells play an even more important role in countering coronavirus than specific antibodies. The article was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science (Zhang et al., Impairment of T cells' antiviral and anti-inflammation immunities may be critical to death from COVID-19).
T-lymphocytes, or T-cells, are white blood cells that react to foreign substances, such as viruses entering the body, the most important element of the acquired immune response. With their submission, the immune system triggers the mechanisms of recognition and destruction of cells carrying foreign antigens.
Researchers from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, based on an accurate description of the clinical data of hundreds of patients with COVID-19, built a mathematical model to find out what role these cells play in preventing severe course and death from coronavirus infection.
The results of quantitative modeling of cellular reactions have shown that the deterioration of T-cell antiviral and anti-inflammatory immunity can become critical in the case of COVID-19 disease. It turned out that T cells play a more important role, compared to antibodies, in the issue of liberation from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In patients with a mild form of the disease, they destroy up to 96.5 percent of viral particles.
In addition, anti-inflammatory reactions, cytokine inhibition and the rate of tissue repair directly correlate with the number of T cells, the production of which was significantly suppressed in patients whose disease ended in a fatal outcome. Modeling shows that a lack of T cells leads to inflammation and the development of a cytokine storm - one of the main causes of death from COVID—19.
The authors hope that their discovery will launch a new direction in the fight against COVID-19, based on an increase in the number of T cells, and the development of a new generation of vaccines aimed at strengthening cellular immunity.
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