Severe course of illness due to strong immunity – Naturopathy & Naturopathic Treatment Portal

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Like the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on its website explains, the courses of the disease in COVID-19 are “non-specific, diverse and vary greatly in their symptoms and severity, they range from symptom-free courses to severe pneumonia with lung failure and death”. But why do some infected people become more ill and why do they suffer from lung failure? Researchers from Germany now have the answers.

Respiratory failure in severe cases

According to a recent Message of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), the dreaded lung failure in severe cases of COVID-19 does not arise from a weak immune response. On the contrary: an excessive reaction of the immune system seems to contribute to this.

This is the conclusion reached by scientists from Bochum and Essen under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nina Babel, Head of the Center for Translational Medicine at the RUB-Klinikum Marien-Hospital Herne.

The research team from the Marien-Hospital Herne and the virology department of the RUB as well as the clinics for infectious diseases and anesthesia and the institute for virology at the University Medical Center Essen have specific antibodies and T cells in the course of the disease in mildly and seriously ill and later deceased COVID-19 patients and patients examined.

The researchers found comparable immune reactions. Their results were published in the journal “Cell Reports Medicine” released.

This is how the immune system fights viruses

As explained in the communication, antibodies and T-lymphocytes are among the most important elements of the immune defense against viruses. The antibodies bind to certain virus receptors and in this way prevent viruses from entering the host cell. They also mark the infected cells for other actors in the immune system, who then kill the cell. Virus-specific T lymphocytes, on the other hand, can kill infected cells directly and very efficiently.

In the past few weeks, several studies on the analysis of such cell-killing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in patients with COVID-19 have been published. They found that such cells were mainly found in people who had suffered from COVID-19, which suggests their protective antiviral effect.

On the other hand, however, some studies suggest that an excessive immune response could be the cause of the severe COVID-19 courses. The role of the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in this excessive immune response is unclear.

Stronger immunity in the most severe cases

In the current study, the researchers analyzed immune responses in patients during the course of COVID-19. “We wanted to investigate the importance of T cells and antibodies in controlling infection and disease,” explains the head of the study, Nina Babel.

“The novelty of our study is that we have analyzed Sars-Cov-2-specific T cells and antibodies with regard to the course of the disease and virus clearance. We were able to determine that a strong T-cell and antibody response was not only detectable in patients with a mild course of Covid-19 or after a defeated virus infection. “

Comparable or even stronger immunity to SARS-CoV-2 was found in patients with the most severe courses and COVID-19-related lung failure.

“During the course of the disease, the number of specific immune cells and their functionality were no better in patients who survived Covid-19 than in those who died from it,” explains Dr. Ulrik Stervbo, laboratory manager at the Center for Translational Medicine.

There was also no difference in the strength and functionality of the immune response between the patients with persistent and survived SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Excessive immune response is important

“Although further studies are needed to understand the specific mechanism of Covid-19-associated lung failure, our data suggest that an excessive Sars-Cov-2-specific T-cell immune response triggers immunopathogenesis and thus makes life-threatening ones Process leads, ”says Nina Babel.

“The results of current studies on the successful use of immunosuppressive therapies for Covid-19 support this hypothesis,” said Prof. Dr. Timm Westhoff, Director of the Medical Clinic I of the Marien Hospital in Herne. (ad)