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Updated: Nov 4, 2025
Contact-Free Co-Culture Model for the Study of Innate Immune Cell Activation During Respiratory Virus Infection
Published on: February 28, 2021
Innate immune and inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2: Implications for COVID-19
Shea A Lowery1, Alan Sariol2, Stanley Perlman3
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Abstract:
COVID-19 can result in severe disease characterized by significant immunopathology that is spurred by an exuberant, yet dysregulated, innate immune response with a poor adaptive response. A limited and delayed interferon I (IFN-I) and IFN-III response results in exacerbated proinflammatory cytokine production and in extensive cellular infiltrates in the respiratory tract, resulting in lung pathology. The development of effective therapeutics for patients with severe COVID-19 depends on our understanding of the pathological elements of this unbalanced innate immune response. Here, we review the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 both activates and antagonizes the IFN and inflammatory response following infection, how a dysregulated cytokine and cellular response contributes to immune-mediated pathology in COVID-19, and therapeutic strategies that target elements of the innate response.
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