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A new effort is underway to understand how the immune system responds to coronavirus.
Scientists from 17 research centers in the UK are trying to answer questions, such as how long does immunity last and why the severity of illness varies so much.
The new UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC) says learning about immunity will help fight the virus.
It has received £ 6.5m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Prof Mala Maini, a viral immunologist at University College London, who leads one of the UK-CIC teams, said: “Our immune response to a virus is really something that dictates how we react when we become infected, how sick we become when we get an acute infection, how long we are protected after we have the infection and how well we can respond to a vaccine.
“The immune system is underlying everything that is key to the response to this virus.”
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Prof Maini says for mild to moderate cases of Covid-19 the immune response seems to be “textbook”.
She explained: “All the right components of that complex immune system seem to work well together.”
More serious cases
But the consortium hopes to find out the role that the immune system plays in more serious cases.
It also seeks answers on how long immunity lasts. This week, researchers in Hong Kong report the first documented case of re-infection.
“This is the first case out of millions, so we need to keep it in proportion,” said Paul Moss, chief researcher at the UK-CIC at the University of Birmingham.
He said it was a concern that the immune response to coronavirus seemed to disappear over time.
But he said the fact that the man had no symptoms during his second infection suggested that the immune system could be effective in stopping the disease.
The consortium will also investigate whether some people have immunity to the virus, even though they have never been exposed to it.
Several studies have shown that an earlier encounter with some of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold enables the immune system to recognize the new coronavirus.
Prof Moss said an important question was to find out if infection with other mild coronaviruses could protect you from catching Covid-19 or make you more acidic.
