My team and I are trying to understand the immune response to COVID-19. I was really floored when I saw the results from our study, because we saw a glimpse of how this virus causes disease and there were some unusual things that we had not anticipated seeing.
Before the pandemic, I was studying immunology in the field of virus infections. I am a professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale School of Medicine, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. With my team at Yale's Iwasaki lab, we had been studying how the immune system detects viruses and how innate and adaptive immune systems are connected. Based on these insights, we are designing better vaccines.
Every four days or so, we would take their nasopharyngeal swabs and blood and analyse what was happening, and that led to very interesting insights. Firstly, with the virus load that we measure from the patients' nose, we observed the severe and moderate patients started off with similar levels. But then, though the moderate patients were able to clear the virus eventually, the severe patients never really could.
It turns out that there are a number of distinct features that are associated with the COVID-19 patients we observed and that interestingly correlate with their recovery from this disease. I was really floored when I saw these features, because there were some unusual things that we had not anticipated seeing.
This illustration shows the structure of coronaviruses, including the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus.Compared to other viruses we have been studying over the years, we had never seen this kind of anti-parasite response coming up. So, it's likely that this virus is doing something to the host that is disorienting them in some way that allows this type of misfiring to occur.
In addition, we found bio-markers that we can use to look at patients to help predict what might happen. It's very useful to have this information because you can prepare Intensive Care Unit beds in anticipation, as well as to potentially give these patients more suitable treatment. Professor Akiko Iwasaki is a professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale School of Medicine, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. With her team she has been investigating the body's immune response to COVID-19.My lab had the knowledge and tools to react before COVID-19 hit, and it is an amazing privilege to be able to work on a pandemic to try and help people.
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