immunity News and Research

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Complement system appears to be specifically implicated in severe COVID-19

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that activation of the complement system is specifically implicated in the pathogenesis of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), rather than being a broader indicator of critical illness.

24 Feb 2021

Study shows antibody responses persisting 10 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers in Italy have conducted a study showing that patients who had tested positive for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) still had neutralizing antibodies against the virus 10 months later.

24 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 does not infect the entire body in the same way, finds study

COVID-19, the disease caused by the pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, is primarily regarded as a respiratory infection. Yet the virus has also become known for affecting other parts of the body in ways not as well understood, sometimes with longer-term consequences, such as heart arrhythmia, fatigue and "brain fog."

24 Feb 2021

Researchers explore how N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 increases viral transmissibility

Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands have explored how and why new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have exhibited heightened infectivity.

24 Feb 2021

Long-lasting B cells do not recognize emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, shows study

A new analysis of B cells and more than 1,000 different monoclonal antibodies from 8 patients with COVID-19 shows that, contrary to previous hypotheses, protective B cell responses to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remain stable and continue to evolve over a 5-month period, many months after the initial period of active viral replication.

23 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge during humoral immunity phase of acute COVID-19

A new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv server reports the rapid emergence of variants within an infected individual. The evolution of the virus within an infected host is not excluded by the close similarity between the consensus sequences of single-person SARS-CoV-2, since the number of viral copies is at its peak soon after infection occurs and before the host develops adaptive immunity.

23 Feb 2021

Largescale antibody testing could lower the scale of COVID-19 pandemic

Research from Queen's University Belfast suggests that largescale antibody testing could lower social activity and thus contagion of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

23 Feb 2021

Beneficial bacteria passed on to infants through breast milk change over time

The cocktail of beneficial bacteria passed from mother to infant through breast milk changes significantly over time and could act like a daily booster shot for infant immunity and metabolism.

23 Feb 2021

Key mutation sites in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein modulate antibody and ACE2 affinity

A paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by researchers at Chapman University in California (Feb 22nd, 2021) utilized computational methods to screen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mutants for affinity with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and monoclonal antibodies REG10987 and REG10933.

23 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 mutations allow escape from clinical monoclonal antibodies

A new research paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Jesse D. Bloom et al. (22nd Feb 2021) aims to map all of the currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages with resistance towards LY-CoV555 and LY-CoV016, and document the specific mutations that confer resistance, ultimately suggesting that future monoclonal antibody cocktails should target a more diverse range of epitopes.

23 Feb 2021

New rapid diagnostic tests can differentiate between COVID-19 variants and multiple viruses

University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have developed two new rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 - one to detect COVID-19 variants and one to help differentiate with other illnesses that have COVID-19-like symptoms.

23 Feb 2021

After billions of dollars and dozens of wartime declarations, why are vaccines still in short supply?

The U.S. government has invested billions of dollars in manufacturing, used a wartime act dozens of times to boost supplies and yet there's still not enough covid vaccine on the way to meet demand — or even the government's own goals for national immunization.

23 Feb 2021

L452R mutation potentially favors adaptive evolution of SARS-CoV-2

A team of scientists from the United States recently investigated the mutational signatures in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

23 Feb 2021

Countries with older populations have higher SARS-CoV-2 infections and deaths, says study

A new study examines some patterns revealed by a study of the factors operating in different regions and countries, to offer plausible hypotheses of these variations.

23 Feb 2021

Australia shows an increase in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, says study

A disturbing new study details an increase in vaccine hesitancy among many Australians over the period of August 2020 to January 2021. This may have serious implications for the country’s ability to achieve universal immunization.

23 Feb 2021

HSE researchers discover genetic predisposition to COVID-19 severity

HSE University researchers have become the first in the world to discover genetic predisposition to severe COVID-19. The results of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.

23 Feb 2021

Protective COVID-19 antibodies can transfer from mothers to babies in the womb

Antibodies that guard against COVID-19 can transfer from mothers to babies while in the womb, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian researchers published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

23 Feb 2021

Influenza A virus defective interfering particles against SARS-CoV-2

In the search for a broadly acting pan-specific antiviral, an interdisciplinary team from Germany tested the previously proposed (for antiviral treatment against Influenza A infections) - Influenza A virus (IAV) defective interfering particles (DIPs). The research is published online on the bioRxiv preprint server.

23 Feb 2021

Fooling the novel coronavirus with a fake handshake to inactivate the virus

Fool the novel coronavirus once and it can't cause infection of cells, new research suggests.

22 Feb 2021

Virus-specific cellular immunity may be essential for long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2

Researchers from China and the US recently synthesized select peptide pools of the structural and functional proteins of SARS-CoV-2, including spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), nucleocapsid (N), and protease (P) proteins as target antigens to assess COVID-19-specific immunity.

22 Feb 2021