A long-term perspective on immunity to COVID

EN BREF ...

"Generating immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is of the utmost importance for bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control, protecting vulnerable individuals from severe disease and limiting viral spread. Our immune systems protect against SARS- CoV-2 either through a sophisticated reaction to infection or in response to vaccination. A key question is, how long does this immunity last? Turner et al.1 and Wang et al.2 now characterize human immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection over the course of a year. There is ongoing discussion about which aspects of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 provide hallmarks of immunity (in other words, correlates of immunologi- cal protection). However, there is probably a consensus that the two main pillars of an anti- viral response are immune cells called cyto- toxic T cells, which can selectively eliminate infected cells, and neutralizing antibodies, a type of antibody that prevents a virus from infecting cells, and that is secreted by immune cells called plasma cells." En bref issu de l'étude.