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Immune cell activation in severe COVID-19 resembles lupus

Abrin

Senior Member
Messages
329
Full article at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201009162428.htm

In severe cases of COVID-19, Emory researchers have been observing an exuberant activation of immune cells, resembling acute flares of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease.

Their findings point towards tests that could separate some COVID-19 patients who need immune-calming therapies from others who may not. They also may begin to explain why some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 produce abundant antibodies against the virus, yet experience poor outcomes.

The results were published online on Oct. 7 in Nature Immunology.

The Emory team's results converge with recent findings by other investigators, who found that high inflammation in COVID-19 may disrupt the formation of germinal centers, structures in lymph nodes where antibody-producing cells are trained. The Emory group observed that B cell activation is moving ahead along an "extrafollicular" pathway outside germinal centers -- looking similar to they had observed in SLE.

B cells represent a library of blueprints for antibodies, which the immune system can tap to fight infection. In severe COVID-19, the immune system is, in effect, pulling library books off the shelves and throwing them into a disorganized heap.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, co-senior author Ignacio (Iñaki) Sanz, MD and his lab were focused on studying SLE and how the disease perturbs the development of B cells.

Sanz is head of the division of rheumatology in the Department of Medicine, director of the Lowance Center for Human Immunology, and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Co-senior author Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, MD is associate professor of medicine and director of Emory's Asthma/Allergy Immunology program.

"We came in pretty unbiased," Sanz says. "It wasn't until the third or fourth ICU patient whose cells we analyzed, that we realized that we were seeing patterns highly reminiscent of acute flares in SLE."

In people with SLE, B cells are abnormally activated and avoid the checks and balances that usually constrain them. That often leads to production of "autoantibodies" that react against cells in the body, causing symptoms such as fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes and kidney problems. Flares are times when the symptoms are worse.

Whether severe COVID-19 leads to autoantibody production with clinical consequences is currently under investigation by the Emory team. Sanz notes that other investigators have observed autoantibodies in the acute phase of the disease, and it will be important to understand whether long-term autoimmune responses may be related to the fatigue, joint pain and other symptoms experienced by some survivors.

Article continued here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201009162428.htm
 
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