Scientists have discovered protective genes that destroy the virus when it enters the body
Researchers tracked the immune responses of 16 people deliberately exposed to the Covid-19 virus and identified a gene that helps resist the disease before it has time to spread throughout the body.
More than four years after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, which has since amassed more than 775 million cases worldwide, scientists are shedding light on the specific immune responses that make some people resistant to infection by the virus.
A new UK study has found that a combination of strong cell protection in the nose and high activity of a particular gene helps prevent the virus from spreading in some people.
“These results shed new light on critical early events that either allow the virus to gain a foothold or quickly clear it before symptoms appear,” says respiratory medicine consultant Marko Nikolic. — We now have a much greater understanding of the full spectrum of immune responses, which could provide the basis for the development of potential treatments and vaccines that mimic these natural protective responses.”
The study, conducted earlier in 2021, began with researchers instilling a low dose of the original variant of SARS-CoV-2 into the noses of 36 healthy adult volunteers who had not been vaccinated and had never previously had the virus.
From this group, researchers took nasal and blood samples from 16 volunteers several times — before infection and several times over the next 28 days — to monitor the spread of the virus and the immune responses of participants. By analyzing these samples, the team compiled a data set containing more than 600,000 individual cells and their behavior before, during and after exposure.
The volunteers' results were divided into three different categories. Six people became ill and developed symptoms; three people — briefly tested positive for Covid-19 but was asymptomatic, which is known as a transient infection; seven people — consistently tested negative and had no symptoms but developed an immune response to the virus — what the team called an abortive infection.
In these last two groups, participants showed high baseline activity of a gene called HLA-DQA2, which helps effectively alert the immune system to potential threats.
«These cells will grab some of the virus, show it to the immune cells and say, " “It’s a foreign substance, you need to go and deal with it,” “, — explains molecular biologist Kaylee Warlock.
Another commonality between people in the latter two groups involves the production of interferon, or proteins that help strengthen the body's immune system.
Notably, participants did not were insured against infection with Covid-19 — some of them later became infected with it after the study was completed.
«This study serves as a unique resource for previously uninfected SARS-CoV-2 participants due to its carefully controlled design and real-world understanding of the "zero time" infection occurred, to measure subsequent immune responses,” — concludes immunologist José Ordovas-Montanez.
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