A type of the immune system’s T cells known to fight against bacterial infections is strongly activated in people with moderate to severe Covid-19, according to a study which provides a better understanding of how the body responds to the novel coronavirus infection.
Researchers, including those from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, noted that this component of the immune system called MAIT cells make up about one to five percent of T cells in the blood of healthy people, and are primarily important for controlling bacteria, but can also be recruited to fight some viral infections.
They explained that T cells are a type of white blood cells that are specialised in recognizing infected cells, and are an essential part of the immune system. In the current study, published in the journal Science Immunology, the scientists assessed the role played by MAIT cells in…