2023-11-02 20:15:00
Title: Study Shows Children’s Stronger Immune Response Offers Protection Against Severe COVID-19 Symptoms
Date: November 2nd, 2023
By: Pamela Dörhöfer
A recent study conducted by researchers from Germany and the USA has shed light on why some individuals experience mild or no symptoms when infected with COVID-19, while others endure severe illness. The findings suggest that a more active immune system in the respiratory tract, particularly in children, plays a significant role in providing protection against severe disease.
Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg discovered that the immune system in the upper respiratory tract, including the nose, paranasal sinuses, throat, and larynx, is considerably more active in children compared to adults. This heightened immune response enables children to better combat the virus, and during the pandemic, less than 0.001 percent of infected school children died from the infection, while the figure for the elderly exceeded ten percent.
Earlier research conducted in 2022 by the DKFZ and the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité found that the nasal mucosa of healthy children is in a state of constant alertness. Specific proteins in the nasal mucosa, known as sensor proteins, play a crucial role in recognizing pathogens and initiating an interferon response, thereby activating an immune reaction. This heightened state of alertness enables children’s mucous membrane cells to respond more swiftly to SARS-CoV-2 infections.
The study led by virologist Marco Bilder from DKFZ revealed that children’s nasal mucosa is not only populated by significantly more immune cells compared to adults, but these cells also produce higher levels of inflammatory messenger substances called cytokines. These messenger substances facilitate communication between the immune system and mucous membrane cells, stimulating the production of virus sensor proteins. Consequently, the nasal mucosa cells in children can rapidly respond to SARS-CoV-2 infections.
While these strong defenses against viruses have been particularly noticeable during the pandemic, as everyone’s immune system encounters the virus for the first time, children’s immune memory and repeated exposure to other viruses allow adults to better defend against infections such as the common cold or flu.
The implications of these findings suggest that further research into prophylaxis for respiratory infections could be worthwhile, aiming to mimic the cellular composition of children’s mucosal tissue, potentially through the inhalation of low-dose cytokine preparations.
Moreover, another study led by Jill Hollenbach, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, revealed that genetic factors also contribute to individuals remaining asymptomatic despite being infected. The study focused on human leukocyte antigens (HLA), which encode proteins essential in defending against pathogens. Participants with a specific variant of the HLA gene (HLA-B*15:01) were found to be eight times more likely to develop no symptoms compared to individuals without this variant.
The study involved the analysis of almost 30,000 potential bone marrow donors in the USA, and participants who carried the protective HLA variant had killer T cells that effectively targeted SARS-CoV-2 even before the pandemic began. It suggests that individuals with this gene variant, who had previously been exposed to corona cold viruses, developed an immunological memory that recognizes and rapidly eliminates infected cells during subsequent infections.
While the HLA variant accounted for 20 percent of asymptomatic cases, researchers believe that other genetic and non-genetic factors are likely to play a role in determining the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.
The findings from these studies provide valuable insights that could potentially aid in the development of preventive measures and treatments to mitigate the severity of respiratory infections, including COVID-19.]
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