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In this Comment article, Sandy Douglas and Adrian Hill discuss the immunological considerations associated with a risk–benefit analysis for controlled human infection models of SARS-CoV-2.
Neurological symptoms are increasingly being observed in patients with COVID-19; this Comment article considers whether cross-reactive antibodies might contribute to the pathology associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of herd immunity has become a topic of much debate. This Comment examines the factors that determine it, discusses how far we have come and considers what it will take to reach herd immunity safely.
Here, Cox and Brokstad briefly discuss T cell- and B cell-mediated immunity to SARS-CoV-2, stressing that a lack of serum antibodies does not necessarily equate with a lack of immunity to the virus.
In this Comment, Jeong Seok Lee and Eui-Cheol Shin discuss contradictory results regarding the downregulation or upregulation of type I interferon responses in patients with COVID-19 and the implications for therapies that target this pathway.
The corticosteroid dexamethasome has been shown to reduce mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who require mechanical ventilation. Here, the authors describe how this immunosuppressive drug might work.
In this Comment article, Becker and colleagues consider how the excessive release of reactive oxygen species by neutrophils may perpetuate red blood cell dysfunction, thrombosis and tissue damage in severe cases of COVID-19.
Recent studies have shown T cell reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 in 20–50% of unexposed individuals; it is speculated that this is due to T cell memory to common cold coronaviruses. Here, Crotty and Sette discuss the potential implications of these findings for disease severity, herd immunity and vaccine development.
In this Comment, Heidi Larson discusses the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ and suggests the ways in which scientists can help to mitigate the spread of misinformation.
Why do some young and previously healthy individuals develop severe COVID-19? In this Comment, Casanova and colleagues suggest that monogenic inborn errors of immunity may be responsible based on lessons from other viral infections.
Rebecca Chandler from the Uppsala Monitoring Centre discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic could be the catalyst that propels vaccine safety surveillance into the twenty-first century.
In this Comment, Anne Rowley discusses what we know so far about the recently described multisystem inflammatory syndrome in older children associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and how it differs from Kawasaki disease.
Beyond neutralization, antibodies have immune-modulating functions that can be protective but, in some cases, can enhance pathology. Understanding these functions is critical for the development of safe vaccines and antibody therapies for COVID-19.
In this Comment, Greg Lemke and Gregg Silverman propose that the excessive blood clotting and immune activation seen in severe COVID-19 may be mechanistically linked through protein S, a ligand for the immunosuppressive TAM receptor family.
Here, Carmeliet and colleagues discuss the role of endothelial cells in inflammation and viral infection and propose novel therapeutic strategies for COVID-19.
Could the BCG vaccine be used to bridge the gap until a specific COVID-19 vaccine is developed? Luke O’Neill and Mihai Netea discuss the science behind this approach.
Levels of the cytokine IL-17 positively correlate with disease severity in COVID-19. Here, the authors argue that existing anti-IL-17 therapies should be considered for the treatment of severe COVID-19.
