In severe cases of COVID-19, an exuberant activation of immune cells resembles that seen in acute flares of SLE.
New research from Emory University School of Medicine points towards tests that could separate some COVID-19 patients who need immune-calming therapies from others who may not. It also may begin to explain why some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 produce abundant antibodies against the virus, yet experience poor outcomes.
The Emory team’s results converge with recent findings by other investigators, who found that high inflammation in COVID-19 may disrupt the formation of germinal centers, structures in lymph nodes where antibody-producing cells are trained. The Emory group observed that B cell activation is moving ahead along an “extrafollicular” pathway outside germinal centers – looking similar to they had observed in SLE.
The results were published online on Oct. 7 in Nature Immunology.
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