(ANSA) – ROME, AUG 23 – A crucial element in the molecular differences between Sars-CoV-2 infections with important symptoms and those with mild symptoms has been identified in the interferon response in the upper airways. High levels of antiviral response in the upper airways – less common in older patients – promote better control of the virus and put them at a reduced risk of serious complications. The study was published in the journal Cell and was born from the collaboration between the laboratory of Microbiology and Virology of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan and the Immunology division of the Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
“We found that high levels of type III and, to a lesser extent, type I interferon characterize the upper airways of low-risk patients with less severe forms of the disease and high viral load. In other words, the presence of the virus stimulates a response that acts not only as an alarm bell for more refined subsequent immune responses, but also for effective containment of the virus at this level “, explains Nicasio Mancini, director of the San Raffaele School of Specialization in Microbiology and Virology.
“A less effective response, as observed in the older subjects we studied, can lead to more massive lower respiratory tract involvement, where interferons, although present, are no longer able to control infection and massive production of other inflammatory mediators. These data further highlight how interferons play opposite roles in different anatomical locations along the respiratory tract. “
Massimo Clementi, director of the San Raffaele Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, adds: “This work, in addition to providing some motivated and important confirmations regarding clinical practice with Covid patients – young patients with high viral load effectively resolve symptoms without affecting the lower respiratory tract – provides an indication that was unthinkable until a few years ago on the importance of non-specific immunity in the course of a viral disease: an indication that must be further investigated and applied “.
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