From no symptoms to sudden death: immune system holds clues to wide range of coronavirus outcomes
- In some patients – mostly men – body goes rogue and attacks own defences instead of fighting Covid-19
- Children may fare better than adults thanks to robust ‘first responder’ immune cells that wane with age
One of Covid-19’s scariest mysteries is why some people are mildly ill or have no symptoms and others rapidly die – and scientists are starting to unravel why.
An international team of researchers found that in some people with severe Covid-19, the body goes rogue and attacks one of its own key immune defences instead of fighting the coronavirus. Most were men, helping to explain why the virus is hitting men harder than women.
And separate research suggests that children fare better than adults thanks to robust “first responder” immune cells that wane with age.
They are the latest in a list of studies uncovering multiple features of the immune system’s intricate cascade that can tip the scales between a good or bad outcome. Next up: figuring out if all these new clues might offer much-needed ways to intervene.
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“We have the knowledge and capability of really boosting many aspects of the immune system. But we need to not use the sledge hammer,” cautioned Dr Betsy Herold of New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who co-authored the child study.