Antiviral Immunity in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: From Protective to Deleterious Responses (original) (raw)
Immunologic Responses against SARS-CoV-2
2020
Cássio Santana Meira1,2, Vinícius Pinto Costa Rocha1,2, Iasmim Diniz Orge1, Danielle Devequi Gomes Nunes1, Emanuelle de Souza Santos1,2, Gabriela Louise de Almeida Sampaio1,2, Patrícia Kauanna Fonseca Damasceno1,2, Afrânio Ferreira Evangelista1, Luciana Knop1, Ricardo Ribeiro dos Santos1,2, Roberto Badaró1, Milena Botelho Pereira Soares1,2* 1SENAI Institute of Innovation in Advanced Health Systems, SENAI CIMATEC; 2Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ); Salvador, Brazil, Brazil
SARS-CoV-2 Immunity: Review of Immune Response to Infection and Vaccination
Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science
After the last flu pandemic in 1918, the world has not faced a similar pandemic until now. However, it has been possible to identify the causative agent as well as its structure and function. The SARS-CoV-2 virus attacks the respiratory system, and the viral components like the spike protein and nucleocapsid protein produce an immune response in the host for viral elimination. The antigen can be recognized by or is presented to T cells. This results in neutralizing antibody production, cytokine secretion, and cytolysis. Although most infected individuals only suffer mild or moderate disease, some develop cytokine storms due to excess formation of cytokines resulting in ARDS, multiorgan failure, and DIC. The virus has mechanisms in place that can aid its escape from the host’s immune response. Vaccine development has been underway around the globe to produce effective vaccines to limit morbidity and mortality from infection. Vaccines like mRNA vaccines encode the spike protein of cor...
The protective immunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination: a critical appraisal
Exploration of Immunology, 2021
Understanding the interactions of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with humans is deeply grounded in immunology, from the diagnosis to pathogenesis, from the clinical presentations to the epidemiology, prevention, and treatment. However, the difficulty of capturing the complex and changeable array of immunological concepts and incorporating them into the strategies of control of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic poses significant hindrances to establish optimal public health policies. The contribution of immunology to the control of the pandemic is to shed light on the features and mechanisms of the protective immunity elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccines. Do they induce effective protective immunity? How? For how long? What is the effect of vaccination on individuals who were previously infected? To appropriately answer these questions, it is necessary to get rid of the outdated notion of a naïve, static, and closed immune system, which leads to misconcep...
Immune Responses to SARS CoV-2: A Scoping Review
European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences
COVID-19 is noxious and constitutes a raft of adverse multiplier effects. As such, there is urgent need to understand the disease well and take action to mitigate its punitive pathologic & economic outcomes. Comprehending the conduct of the immune system during and after infection may provide fundamental leads to unraveling effective interventions. Some vaccines and drugs have since been validated and made available for emergency use among priority populations. However, these vaccines were developed at an accelerated pace and mainly on the basis of rudimentary immunological & molecular events. Therefore, there is need for continuous revelation of precise and more elaborate hallmarks in order to improve on, or develop more efficacious and safe interventions. Three scientific databases (PubMed, Cochrane and EMBASE) were searched between 1st December, 2020 and 15th January, 2021 for information about immune responses to SARS COV-2. Studies that utilized experimental designs, exhibited ...
The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 immunopathology – Current perspectives
Pulmonology, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 is a new beta coronavirus, similar to SARS-CoV-1, that emerged at the end of 2019 in the Hubei province of China. It is responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The ability to gain quick control of the pandemic has been hampered by a lack of detailed knowledge about SARS-CoV-2-host interactions, mainly in relation to viral biology and host immune response. The rapid clinical course seen in COVID-19 indicates that infection control in asymptomatic patients or patients with mild disease is probably due to the innate immune response, as, considering that SARS-CoV-2 is new to humans, an effective adaptive response would not be expected to occur until approximately 2-3 weeks after contact with the virus. Antiviral innate immunity has humoral components (complement and coagulation-fibrinolysis systems, soluble proteins that recognize glycans on cell surface, interferons, chemokines, and naturally occurring antibodies) and cellular components (natural killer cells and other innate lymphocytes). Failure of this system would pave the way for uncontrolled viral replication in the airways and the mounting of an adaptive immune response, potentially amplified by an inflammatory cascade. Severe COVID-19 appears to be due not only to viral infection but also to a dysregulated immune and inflammatory response. In this paper, the authors review the most recent publications on the immunobiology of SARS-CoV-2, virus interactions with target cells, and host immune responses,
Immune modulation as a consequence of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Frontiers in Immunology
Erroneous immune responses in COVID-19 could have detrimental effects, which makes investigation of immune network underlying COVID-19 pathogenesis a requisite. This study aimed to investigate COVID-19 related alterations within the frame of innate and adaptive immunity. Thirty-four patients clinically diagnosed with mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 disease were enrolled in this study. Decreased ILC1 and increased ILC2 subsets were detected in mild and moderate patients compared to healthy controls. NK cell subsets and cytotoxic capacity of NK cells were decreased in severe patients. Moreover, CD3+ T cells were reduced in severe patients and a negative correlation was found between CD3+ T cells and D-dimer levels. Likewise, moderate and severe patients showed diminished CD3+CD8+ T cells. Unlike T and NK cells, plasmablast and plasma cells were elevated in patients and IgG and IgA levels were particularly increased in severe patients. Severe patients also showed elevated serum leve...
Scientific Reports, 2022
More than a year after the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 remains a global health emergency. Although the immune response against SARS-CoV-2 has been extensively studied, some points remain controversial. One is the role of antibodies in viral clearance and modulation of disease severity. While passive transfer of neutralizing antibodies protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection in animal models, titers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have been reported to be higher in patients suffering from more severe forms of the disease. A second key question for pandemic management and vaccine design is the persistence of the humoral response. Here, we characterized the antibody response in 187 COVID-19 patients, ranging from asymptomatic individuals to patients who died from COVID-19, and including patients who recovered. We developed in-house ELISAs to measure titers of IgG, IgM and IgA directed against the RBD or N regions in patient serum or plasma, and a spike-pseudotyped neutralization assay to analyse seroneutralization. Higher titers of virus-specific antibodies were detected in patients with severe COVID-19, including deceased patients, compared to asymptomatic patients. This demonstrates that fatal infection is not associated with defective humoral response. Finally, most of recovered patients still had anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG more than 3 months after infection. Although differences in susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 may be highly complex and multifactorial, age, comorbidities, expression levels of SARS-CoV-2 receptors and host immune responses are likely strong determinants of outcome 1,2. Most COVID-19 patients are reported to produce antibodies directed against the spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, which seem to be the main viral immunogens 3-5. While the N protein holds the viral RNA genome, the S protein is exposed at the surface and is responsible for viral entry via direct contact between its receptor binding domain (RBD) and the human receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) 6,7. The S
Adaptive Immune Responses and Immunity to SARS-CoV-2
Frontiers in Immunology
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical field has been forced to apply the basic knowledge of immunology with the most up-to-date SARS-CoV-2 findings and translate it to the population of the whole world in record time. Following the infection with the viral antigen, adaptive immune responses are activated mainly by viral particle encounters with the antigen-presenting cells or B cell receptors, which induce further biological interactions to defend the host against the virus. After the infection has been warded off, the immunological memory is developed. The SARS-CoV cellular immunity has been shown to persist even 17 years after the infection, despite the undetectable humoral component. Similar has been demonstrated for the SARS-CoV-2 T cell memory in a shorter period by assessing interferon-gamma levels when heparinized blood is stimulated with the virus-specific peptides. T cells also play an irreplaceable part in a humoral immune reaction as the backbone of a cell...
Journal of Immunological Sciences, 2021
The global public health scenario is worsening gradually as the confirmed cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections are incessantly escalating with every passing day. The pathological condition caused by SARS-CoV-2 is termed as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The understanding of SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics, immunopathogenesis, and the need for early-stage diagnosis and the effective therapeutic regime are the few immediate challenges faced by healthcare professionals worldwide. More specifically, the role of SARS-CoV-2 in the host's immunopathogenesis response is crucial to determine the disease severity and its clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients. In the present review, we provide insights into the SARS-CoV-2 pathology, host immune responses including innate, cellular, and humoral responses, and immunomodulatory functions of SARS-CoV-2 including cytokine storm and immune evasion. We also shed light upon the present clinical and laboratory-based applications enrolled in the SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. Taking into consideration the pathogenesis and SARS-CoV-2 immune function, in the present review, we finally provide succinct insights into the SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics, immunopathogenesis, with the assessment of the current diagnostic and preventive/ therapeutic strategies.
SARS-CoV-2: From Structure to Pathology, Host Immune Response and Therapeutic Management
Microorganisms, 2020
Coronaviruses are large, enveloped viruses with a single-stranded RNA genome, infecting both humans and a wide range of wild and domestic animals. SARS-CoV-2, the agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has 80% sequence homology with SARS-CoV-1 and 96-98% homology with coronaviruses isolated from bats. The spread of infection is favored by prolonged exposure to high densities of aerosols indoors. Current studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 is much more stable than other coronaviruses and viral respiratory pathogens. The severe forms of infection are associated with several risk factors, including advanced age, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, chronic inflammatory or autoimmune disease, and other preexisting infectious diseases, all having in common the pre-existence of a pro-inflammatory condition. Consequently, it is essential to understand the relationship between the inflammatory process and the specific immune response in SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this review, we present a general characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (origin, sensitivity to chemical and physical factors, multiplication cycle, genetic variability), the molecular mechanisms of COVID-19 pathology, the host immune response and discuss how the inflammatory conditions associated with different diseases could increase the risk of COVID-19. Last, but not least, we briefly review the SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, pharmacology, and future approaches toward vaccine development.