Immunology of coronavirus disease 2019 raises more questions than answers

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is by far one of the biggest global health crises of this century. Unfortunately, up till now, there is no preventative vaccine and treatment strategies are disadvantaged by the ever-emerging viral mutations and the significantly high morbidity and fatality rate. Theoretically, the main hope to change this situation would be to develop novel, effective treatment and vaccine against COVID-19 based on the activation of T- and B-cells. An important part of this process understands the mechanisms of innate and acquired immunity to COVID-19. In this review article, a literature search was conducted using PubMed search engine looking at what has been published up to the 20th of July 2020 about the immunology of COVID-19. The aim is to collate all the evidence and highlight key features of what we know thus far about the immunity of COVID-19. This should hopefully deepen our understanding of the activated immune responses which will take us a step forward in the search for an effective COVID-19 vaccine.

Keywords

• b-cells and antibodies
• coronavirus disease 2019
• severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• t-cells