T-cells may be the key to why COVID-19 is life threatening in some people

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-29 03:00

Australia; NSW

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People who end up with life-threatening critical COVID-19 have increases in a type of immune cell known as cytotoxic CD4+ T cells (CTL), but the same increases don't occur in people with mild or even severe disease, according to Australian research. The authors say this suggests that these immune cells may be contributing to the tissue damage and widespread inflammatory disease that is seen in fatal COVID-19. This also suggests that these immune responses could be a target for the development of next-generation therapies and vaccines.

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Journal/
conference: Clinical & Translational Immunology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Sydney, Centenary Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney

Funder: FMW and TMA are supported by the International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) Marylou Ingram Scholars program. The COSIN cohort was supported by Snow Medical Foundation as an investigator initiated study. We acknowledge the support of the University of Sydney Advanced Cytometry Facility. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Sydney, as part of the Wiley - The University of Sydney agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

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