Researchers have mapped immune responses from one of Australia's first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, demonstrating the human body's ability to fight the virus and recover from the infection.
This is the first time that broad immune responses to COVID-19 have been reported.
Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne tested blood samples at four different time points in an otherwise healthy woman in her 40s, infected with COVID-19 and exhibiting mild-to-moderate symptoms.
"Three days after the patient was admitted, we saw large populations of several immune cells, which are often a tell-tale sign of recovery during seasonal influenza infection, so we predicted that the patient would recover in three days, which is what happened," said research fellow Dr Oanh Nguyen, co-author of a detailed report published in Nature Medicine.
The researchers were able to dissect the immune response leading to successful recovery from COVID-19, which might be the secret to finding an effective vaccine.
"We showed that even though COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, in an otherwise healthy person, a robust immune response across different cell types was associated with clinical recovery, similar to what we see in influenza," said University of Melbourne Professor Katherine Kedzierska, a leading influenza immunology researcher, "This is an incredible step forward in understanding what drives recovery of COVID-19. People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts, and also understand what's lacking in those who have fatal outcomes."
Source: Nature Medicine 16 March 2020; Breadth of concomitant immune responses prior to patient recovery: a case report of non-severe COVID-19