COVID-19 Immunity: Study Finds 'Immune Scars' On Patients With Lung Infections Making Them More Vulnerable, Warning For Coming Flu Season
Source: COVID-19 Immunity May 19, 2020 4 years, 7 months, 3 days, 7 hours, 53 minutes ago
COVID-19 Immunity: A new research from University of Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and the University Hospital of Nantes indicates that individuals recovering from severe lung infections frequently also develop "immunological scars" that suppresses their body's immune response and heighten their risk of contracting pneumonia, a common lethal manifestation of COVID-19 patients.
Macrophages
The study has serious implications as in the coming flu seasons; the common flu can also make those infected to become more vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease.
The study was published in the journal
Nature Immunology.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-020-0673-x
Research in both humans and animal models (mice) showed that the body's immune response is temporarily switched off after some severe infections, rendering patients more vulnerable to new bacterial or viral diseases.
The medical researchers found that the cells that form the immune system's first line of defense ie the macrophages, were "paralyzed" after severe infection.
Typically, macrophages neutralize pathogens and raise an internal alarm that sends immune cells rushing to the site of infection. Upon the threat being taken care of, the macrophages down tools and the body goes back to running as normal.
However by analyzing blood samples from individuals who had suffered severe infections, the study team found that their macrophages had been deactivated.
Dangerously, this left patients at greater risk of contracting potentially fatal secondary infections such as pneumonia while in hospital.
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In the United States, about 250,000 are infected with pneumonia annually with about 20 per cent dying from it while Europe alone sees around 500,000 hospital patients infected with pneumonia annually, off which around 10 percent of those die.
The study team also identified the trigger or "switch" for reanimating the macrophages, a receptor known as SIRP-alpha. This was found to restore the macrophages to their "full capacity".
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The researchers said their findings could influence how hospital infections are treated, including rethinking the systematic use of antibiotics, to which super bugs are increasingly resistant.
Dr Jose Villadangos from the Peter Doherty Institute in Australia and lead researcher of the study told Thailand Medical News, "We believe an alternative approach is to recharge the immune system to take it out of its paralyzed state, or to prevent paralysis in the first place, so that patients will be able to protect themselves against secondary infections without resorting to antibiotics."
Dr Villadangos added, "Turning off the newly-described switch may be such an approach,"
The study findings may have significant implications on how COVID-19 cases are treated in future.
It has been observed that most COVID-19 deaths occur due to a cytokine storm ie a process whereby the body's own immune response runs wild causing acute and often fatal inflammation.
Dr Antoine Roquilly, from the University Hospital of Nantes, said better understanding the SIRP-alpha and other immune switches that temporarily shut down the body's immune response "may prevent the storm from occurring and improve the survival of these patients".
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