Researchers use stem cells to model the immune response to COVID-19

Editor ’s note: This announcement was updated on June 23, 2020, to correct the value of a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The grant amount was $150,000. Cities across the United States are opening back up, but we ’re still a long way from making the COVID-19 pandemic history. To truly accomplish that, we need to have a vaccine that can stop the spread of infection.But to develop an effective vaccine, we need to understand how the immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.Vaccines work by imitating infection. They expose a person ’s immune system to a weakened version or component of the virus they are intended to protect against. This essentially prepares the immune system to fight the virus ahead of time, so that if a person is exposed to the real virus, their immune system can quickly recognize the enemy and fight the i nfection. Vaccines need to contain the right parts of the virus to provoke a strong immune response and create long-term protection.Most of the vaccines in development for SARS CoV-2 are using part of the virus to provoke the immune system to produce proteins called antibodies that neutralize the virus. Another way a vaccine could create protection against the virus is by activating the T cells of the immune system.T cells specifically “recognize” virus-infected cells, and these kinds of responses may be especially important for providing long-term protection against the virus. One challeng...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news