0000000000542311
AUTHOR
Antonio Lanzavecchia
Integrated longitudinal immunophenotypic, transcriptional, and repertoire analyses delineate immune responses in patients with COVID-19
To understand how a protective immune response against SARS-CoV-2 develops over time, we integrated phenotypic, transcriptional and repertoire analyses on PBMCs from mild and severe COVID-19 patients during and after infection, and compared them to healthy donors (HD). A type I IFN-response signature marked all the immune populations from severe patients during the infection. Humoral immunity was dominated by IgG production primarily against the RBD and N proteins, with neutralizing antibody titers increasing post infection and with disease severity. Memory B cells, including an atypical FCRL5+ T-BET+ memory subset, increased during the infection, especially in patients with mild disease. A…
T cells can present antigens such as HIV gp120 targeted to their own surface molecules
To trigger class II-restricted T cells, antigen presenting cells have to capture antigens, process them and display their fragments in association with class II molecules. In most species, activated T cells express class II molecules; however, no evidence has been found that these cells can present soluble antigens. This failure may be due to the inefficient capture, processing or display of antigens in a stimulatory form by T-cells. The capture of a soluble antigen, which is achieved by nonspecific mechanisms in macrophages and dendritic cells, can be up to 10(3) times more efficient in the presence of surface receptors, such as surface immunoglobulin on B cells that specifically bind anti…