COVID-19: Immune antibodies vs T cells in protection
A very interesting study looked at which parts of the immune system are most important for clearing infections from the body ( science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… ). 🧵1/
A very interesting study looked at which parts of the immune system are most important for clearing infections from the body ( science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… ). 🧵1/
The immune system has innate and adaptive immune responses ( ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26846/ ). The adaptive immune system remembers previous encounters with specific pathogens and destroys them when exposed again but is slow to develop on a first/primary exposure to a new pathogen. 2/
Specific clones of B and T cells have to become activated and could take a week or more before the immune responses are effective (this is why you are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after you get your dose). 3/
Since a full blown infection from some pathogens can occur in a single day, the first critical hours and days of protection from exposure to a new pathogen are provided by our innate immune system. 4/
The innate system does not respond to a specific pathogen but depends on a group of proteins and cells that recognize conserved features of pathogens and become quickly activated to help destroy invaders. 5/
T cells in the adaptive immune system destroy infected cells from inside, while B cells produce antibodies that clean up any virus found outside of cells ( news.yale.edu/2021/09/02/imm… ). 6/
Previously it was unknown the relative contribution of T cells and B cells during and after a COVID-19 infection. This study conducted a series of experiments on mice to determine which immune system responses played the most important role at different stages of COVID-19. 7/
@VirusesImmunity does a great job summarizing her paper here (
https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1433570048715763714). 8/
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