XPost: misc.news.internet.discuss   
   From: here@is.invalid   
      
   T cells found in COVID-19 patients 'bode well' for long-term immunity   
      
   Immune warriors known as T cells help us fight some viruses, but their   
   importance for battling SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,   
   has been unclear. Now, two studies reveal infected people harbor T   
   cells that target the virus---and may help them recover. Both studies   
   also found some people never infected with SARS-CoV-2 have these   
   cellular defenses, most likely because they were previously infected   
   with other coronaviruses.   
      
      
   "This is encouraging data," says virologist Angela Rasmussen of   
   Columbia University. Although the studies don't clarify whether people   
   who clear a SARS-CoV-2 infection can ward off the virus in the future,   
   both identified strong T cell responses to it, which "bodes well for   
   the development of long-term protective immunity," Rasmussen says. The   
   findings could also help researchers create better vaccines.   
      
   The more than 100 COVID-19 vaccines in development mainly focus on   
   another immune response: antibodies. These proteins are made by B   
   cells and ideally latch onto SARS-CoV-2 and prevent it from entering   
   cells. T cells, in contrast, thwart infections in two different ways.   
   Helper T cells spur B cells and other immune defenders into action,   
   whereas killer T cells target and destroy infected cells. The severity   
   of disease can depend on the strength of these T cell responses.   
      
   Using bioinformatics tools, a team led by Shane Crotty and Alessandro   
   Sette, immunologists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology,   
   predicted which viral protein pieces would provoke the most powerful T   
   cell responses. They then exposed immune cells from 10 patients who   
   had recovered from mild cases of COVID-19 to these viral snippets.   
      
   https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/t-cells-found-covid-19-p   
   tients-bode-well-long-term-immunity#   
      
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