A patient’s immune response to coronavirus has been mapped by scientists for the first time.
It shows how the body launches a “robust” defence – opening the door to the development of a vaccine.
The breakthrough was described as “incredible” – shedding light on why most people recover from the infection, while some die.
It’s hoped the study of a middle aged Australian woman will save thousands of lives across the world.
The Melbourne team tested blood samples at four different time points in the otherwise healthy 47 year-old with “mild-to-moderate” symptoms.
She was one of the first patients in Australia to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
She had travelled back from Wuhan in Hubei province – the epicentre of the outbreak – 11 days before she began feeling unwell.
Co-author Professor Katherine Kedzierska, a leading flu expert at the University of Melbourne, said: “This is an incredible step forward in understanding what drives recovery of COVID-19.
“People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts, and also understand what’s lacking in those who have fatal outcomes.”
The woman turned up at Royal Melbourne Hospital’s A&E department complaining of lethargy, sore throat, dry cough, chest pain, shortness of breath and fever.
She was a non-smoker taking no medications. Her condition was managed through keeping her well hydrated with plenty of fluids administered intravenously.
She was given no antibiotics or other drugs, reports Nature Medicine.
Her blood samples enabled the researchers to chart her body’s fight back.
Co-author Dr Oanh Nguyen, also of the University of Melbourne, said: “We looked at the whole breadth of the immune response in this patient using the knowledge we have built over many years of looking at immune responses in patients hospitalised with influenza.
“Three days after the patient was admitted, we saw large populations of several immune cells, which are often a tell-tale sign of recovery during seasonal influenza infection, so we predicted that the patient would recover in three days, which is what happened.”
Her colleagues dissected the immune response that led to her full recovery in fine detail – which might be the secret to finding an effective vaccine against COVID-19.
Prof Kedzierska said: “We showed even though COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, in an otherwise healthy person, a robust immune response across different cell types was associated with clinical recovery, similar to what we see in influenza.”
The fast-tracked research was made possible thanks to a program called SETREP-ID (Sentinel Travellers and Research Preparedness for Emerging Infectious Disease).
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It enables broad range biological sampling to take place in returned travellers in the event of a new and unexpected infectious disease outbreak.
This is exactly how COVID-19 started in Australia.
Project leader Dr Irani Thevarajan, of Royal Melbourne Hospital, said: “When COVID-19 emerged, we already had ethics and protocols in place so we could rapidly start looking at the virus and immune system in great detail.
“Already established at a number of Melbourne hospitals, we now plan to roll out SETREP-ID as a national study.”
Dr Thevarajan said current estimates show more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases are mild-to-moderate.
Understanding the immune response in these mild cases is very important research.
She said: “We hope to now expand our work nationally and internationally to understand why some people die from COVID-19, and build further knowledge to assist in the rapid response of COVID-19 and future emerging viruses.”
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