“Human immune system can fight against coronavirus” | Abroad

Virologist Carolien van de Sandt, originally from the Eibergen municipality in Gelderland, is participating in the research in Melbourne. Tubantia spoke to the researcher about the virus and this result: “Researchers from all over the world have contacted us. Not only to collaborate in developing a vaccine, but also to participate in various projects to look even more closely at the immune responses in corona patients, ”says van de Sandt.

She explains to Tubantia that it first looked at the immune responses of one of the first patients in Australia. The patient had a mild infection. During the course of the infection, the immune cells were examined: “We saw that several parts of the immune system were activated relatively quickly after the start of the infection.”

‘Good news’

Research center Kedzierska Lab of the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, where Van de Sandt works, has a lot of experience in the field of immune reactions due to flu. Van de Sandt: “What we see here is a very typical immune response that goes hand in hand with a good recovery and this is exactly what we see in people who have a flu infection. Good news: this patient’s body does exactly what it has to do, namely fight back! ”

A large proportion of patients experience mild complaints with an infection. The Melbourne research team expects that a large part also has a good immune response during an infection. To confirm this, a larger scale study is now being carried out.

Follow-up research

The follow-up study will not only look at patients with mild complaints, but also at patients with serious complaints. Van de Sandt: “With this we hope to find out which specific parts of the immune system are activated during a mild infection, and thus go hand in hand with a good recovery, and what goes wrong in patients with a serious infection.”

The researcher explains that critically ill patients often have an immune system unable to activate certain parts. If it is possible to identify those parts for the coronavirus, it is better to estimate whether the patient will have mild or serious complaints. In this way, it will soon be possible to apply tailor-made care better, says Van de Sandt.

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