Varying immune response to COVID-19: J'Pura and Oxford universities in joint study
Vital research for the betterment of humankind is what has been strengthening the bonds between two centres half-aworld between them.
On cue in keeping with the urgent needs of these troubled times and as a natural progression of the 12-year bond, these respected institutions are now looking closely to find out how the scourge of COVID-19 affects people.
These institutions are the Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Centre for Dengue Research headed by Prof. Neelika Malavige and Oxford University’s MRC Human Immunology Unit, headed by Prof. Graham Ogg, at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Before delving into what this immune response study would entail, Prof. Malavige says that “immunity” is the state of resistance of a person to an invading pathogen and its harmful effects. The immune response tries to prevent the development of infection and attempts to counteract, neutralize and clear the pathogen.
The imagery she creates is simple – it is very similar to a battle or invasion and how soldiers of a country would get mobilized to ward off the threat from the invaders.
The two centres will look at how different people respond to the new coronavirus (SARSCoV-2) which causes COVID-19.
Prof. Malavige says: “When infected with the new coronavirus, some get mild illness and recover in a week. They have mild body aches and a slight sore throat and cough. However, some others develop severe pneumonia and complications in the second week.
“Why? It is much more than to do with the virus. It is also to do with the immune response by each person to the virus. Actually if there is a detrimental immune response, there would be severe disease. As such, disease severity is not directly related to the virus but to an undesirable immune response.”
They have a hypothesis that the immune response (whether mild or severe) of a person to the new coronavirus may depend on previous exposure and illness of that person to other coronaviruses which are known to cause the common cold and upper respiratory tract infections.
“Previous exposure and infections could be a factor which may be influencing the body’s reaction to the new coronavirus, of which we know so little about. When studying the mortality figures from this virus we find that in Sri Lanka it is less than 1%, whereas in Europe and the United States of America, the case fatality rate varies between 3-9%.This is why the immune response which seems to vary needs to be studied,” she says.
Understanding the immune response to the virus in a country-specific setting is crucial not only when attempting to find medications but also a vaccination against the virus, reiterates Prof. Malavige, with Prof. Ogg elaborating that by comparing immune responses from two different populations with exposure to different kinds of pathogens, “we hope to get a clearer answer about how background immunity influences COVID-19 disease”.
In the study, blood samples from the general population as well as current and recovered COVID-19 patients in the two countries would be analysed to see how T cells ( a kind of white blood cell that is crucial for adapting the body’s immune response to specific pathogens), as well as antibodies (a blood protein manufactured by the body to attack specific pathogens) work in different people.
They will compare immune markers in blood samples to get an understanding how existing immunity to different viruses (including other coronaviruses) might influence the immune response to a COVID-19 infection.
“This kind of existing immunity may play a protective role or it may worsen disease severity – we just don’t know yet,” said Prof. Ogg. “By comparing immune responses from two different populations with exposure to different kinds of pathogens, we hope to get a clearer answer to this question.”
The two centres which have been engaged in strong dengue research will now expand their focus to cover the immune response not only of those who have been exposed to SARS- CoV- 2 but also those who have had no such exposure.
Prof. Malavige looks at the recent past and says that Prof. Ogg, who is a Visiting Researcher at the Sri Jayewardenepura University was in Sri Lanka in February to plan this study and left just before the closure of the airport. Prof. Malavige, meanwhile, is a Visiting Researcher at Oxford University.
The immune response study has followed the essential protocols of obtaining approval from the Ethics Review Committee of the Sri Jayewardenepura University and is partnering with the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) which has treated a majority of COVID- 19 patients. The British High Commission in Sri Lanka has extended Rs. 10.5 million in funding for the study.
“The Sri Lankan specimens would not be sent out of the country but studied here because we have developed our laboratory and have state- of- the- art facilities to handle complex studies,” said Prof. Malavige, adding that the specimens from British patients would be studied over at Oxford.
She adds that they will have to “work fast” and produce some results by February next year.