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BioNTech recently published results of their Phase 1/2 safety and immunogenicity BNT162b1 COVID-19 vaccine trial. BNT162b1 is a lipid-nanoparticle encapsulated RNA vaccine that encodes the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The biotech company incorporated 1-methyl-pseudouridine instead of uridine in to the RNA sequence which dampens innate immune sensing of the RNA....

This week we highlight IUIS webinar by Elizabeth Mann and Madhvi Menon, who discussed findings from their recent longitudinal immune profiling study with admitted COVID-19 patients across four hospitals in Manchester at the height of the pandemic in the UK. Madvi Menon began the webinar describing the CIRCO longitudinal study which recruited individuals with varying COVID-19 severity.

This summary highlight talks by Mehrnaz Mesdaghi who gave an overview of the role of mast cells, basophil and eosinophils in allergy, and how effector functions of these cells can be leverage for diagnostic tests, Joana Vitte's presentation on Mast Cell Activation Syndromes, and Sabelo Hadebe's talk that focused on the role of T cells, mainly Th2 cells in allergy.

A recent preprint article in Medrxiv explored whether inflammation in COVID-19 is a direct response to presence of the virus in organs or an independent immuno-pathologic process. Post-mortem tissue samples were obtained from 11 hospitalized patients with fatal COVID-19 and assessed for presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and proteins alongside histological evidence of inflammation/tissue damage.

The D614G mutation in the spike protein of SARS-Co-V2 was described recently and has now become the dominant viral strain in global circulation and has also been shown to result in greater viral infectivity. In a recent pre-peer reviewed paper, authors show that the D614G mutation is in fact more susceptible...

Corticosteroid treatment for severe COVID-19 could be regarded as a “heavy approach” to relieving the devastating effects of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and would potentially inhibit the signalling pathways leading to robust T and B cell immunity. Perhaps a more selective approach could be used to target the now known inflammatory overreaction leading to severe disease...

There are a number of studies emerging that show people infected with SARS-CoV-2 make robust T cell responses that target the spike protein, membrane antigens and nucleocapsid, with immunodominant responses against spike. With recent findings that nAbs to SARS-CoV-2 wane rapidly after peak symptoms, is there evidence that T cell memory responses linger for longer?

Professor Rudolf Valenta began his talk discussing important advances in diagnosis and therapy that have occurred in in the field of Allergy during the last couple of years. He particularly insisted on the importance of the component resolved diagnosis as a new form of modern allergy diagnosis based on the molecular aspects of allergens.

A recent correspondence in NEJM shows that antibodies to SAR-CoV-2 wane rapidly in mild disease, raising the question around the durability of potential protective immunity. Blood samples were analysed longitudinally in 30 patients with mild disease from 37 days after the onset of symptoms to a mean of 86 days (ranging from 44 to 119 days).

A recent article in Science used high dimensional cytometry to investigate the network of immune cell interactions and how they are connected in patients with COVID-19. Peripheral immune cells were analysed from 125 hospitalised patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, 36 non-hospitalised patients who had recovered from infection and 60 healthy individuals.