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Author Spotlight: Advancing Immune Monitoring in Critical Care Patients Using Whole Blood Assays
Published on: September 20, 2024
Monocyte-crosstalk drives interferon-mediated signaling following SARS-CoV-2 exposure
Sebastian J Theobald1,2, Jan Rybniker1,2,3
1Department I of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Abstract:
Cells of the innate immune system represent the first line of defense against SARS-CoV-2 and play an essential role in activating adaptive immunity, which mediates long-term protection. In addition, the same cells are key drivers of tissue damage by causing the hyperinflammatory state and cytokine storm that makes COVID-19 a deadly disease. Thus, careful dissection of the host-pathogen interaction on a cellular level is essential to understanding SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and developing new treatment modalities against COVID-19. In their recent work, Goffinet and colleagues (Kazmierski et al, 2022) investigate the cell-intrinsic responses of human primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) exposed to SARS coronaviruses.
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