India
pti-Madhuri Adnal
New York, Sep 25: More than 10 per cent of young and healthy people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, and another 3.5 per cent may carry a specific kind of genetic mutation, according to a new study.
The research, published in the journal Science, noted that both groups of patients lack type I interferon — a set of 17 proteins crucial for protecting cells and the body from viruses. These proteins, according to the researchers from the Rockefeller University in the US, are part of the intrinsic and innate immunity, kicking in before the body produces an antibody response, and are known to play an important role in immediately heightening the cells’ defences in response to several viruses.