English Study Suggests T Cells Could Be Sufficient to Protect From COVID-19

An English study said high levels of T cells that respond to the coronavirus could shield against COVID-19 infection, reports Reuters . The analysis by Oxford Immunotec and Public Health England (PHE) looked at nearly 3,000 individuals, and found that no participants with a high T cell response developed symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection during follow-up. This was in comparison with 20 confirmed infections among participants who saw low T cell responses. "This suggests individuals with higher numbers of T-cells recognizing SARS-CoV-2 may have some level of protection from COVID-19, although more research is required to confirm this," said PHE Consultant Microbiologist David Wyllie. The investigators suggested that the importance of T cells in the immune response might indicate that serological testing to detect antibodies would not yield a complete perspective of who was at lower risk of infection. SARS-CoV-2 responsive T cell levels also declined with age, particularly in the absence of antibodies, which may explain why older people are at higher risk from COVID-19.