We are not microbiologists, we just look out the window and report what we see. We understand t-cells are at the heart of the attack on COVID-19, as they seek out and destroy their enemy. It seems we could compare them to snipers in forward posts that join battle to defend against an invading army.
What We Know About T-Cells Attacking COVID-19
We don’t understand why some COVID-19 patients recover from the coronavirus disease without developing antibodies. Chinese scientists lead by Fan Wu reported this lack of correlation in March 2020. Then, on July 9, 2020 a team lead by Jeffrey Seouw of Kings College London revealed the antibodies that do develop, may disappear after a few months.
This could be incredibly important for vaccine development. We need to understand why this is happening this way. We know t-cells are valuable input to tracking the spread of an outbreak. But is that where it ends? Perhaps not, muses BBC reporter Zariah Gorvett. That’s because the t-cells might be older than we think.
Surprising Facts About T-Cells We Did Not know
On June 25, 2020 La Jolla Institute’s Alba Grifoni reported the presence of tailored t-cells in many people before the first outbreak. Their finding triggered thoughts some 40 to 60% of people may already have them without exposure to the virus.
Does this mean t-cells are a secret source of immunity some of us already have? We can learn more by factoring in the terminal phase of late stage AIDS. There, the t-cells put up a mighty struggle. However, in the end the HIV virus hunts them down and destroys them by forcing them to self-destruct.
If we could prevent this destruction of t-cells at the heart of the attack on COVID-19, then we could be a step closer to controlling the disease. We’ll keep looking out the window and reporting progress as it unfolds.
Related
Oxford Vaccine Makes Antibodies and T-Cells
Interferon Beta Offers Fresh Hope in
Preview Image: Killer T-Cells Surround a Cancer Cell
Report by Fan Wu and Associates
