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TOKYO, Feb. 14 (PTI) Researchers have identified a sex difference in the production of immune cells and antibodies as part of the response to COVID-19, which could explain why men are at higher risk of developing the disease.
Men are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection, but the underlying cellular basis for this difference is not fully understood.
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Researchers at Osaka University in Japan have now discovered sex differences in the production of a type of immune cell called regulatory T cells, or “Treg cells,” and proteins called antibodies.
The immune system is responsible for clearing viral infections and produces many of the acute symptoms of COVID-19, so understanding changes to the immune system in infected patients is critical.
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The “humoral response,” the production of antibodies, is dysregulated in COVID-19. Treg cells are suspected of being responsible because their role in the immune system is to regulate other immune cells and suppress their activity to control the strength of the immune response.
T follicular regulatory cells (Tfr cells) are a subset of the Treg cell population responsible for controlling antibody production.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, observed that male patients lost circulating Tfr cells at a faster rate than female patients.
The researchers also found sex differences in an entire network of different cell types associated with antibody production. Many COVID patients begin to develop “autoantibodies” as part of their response to the virus.
These antibodies target proteins produced by the body rather than the virus, and can neutralize protective host factors, and the production of these antibodies may play a key role in the progression of infection.
The team used a method called mass spectrometry single-cell proteomics, which allows the identification and analysis of individual immune cells.
This suggests that COVID-19 patients have altered ratios between circulating Tfr cells and other cellular networks associated with antibody production, which in turn is strongly correlated with antibody levels.
According to the researchers, a gender bias could be seen in this response, with women having more circulating Tfr cells and men having higher antibody levels.
“This provides important cellular evidence of a dysregulated antibody response in COVID-19 patients,” said senior study author James Badger Wing.
“The reduction in cTfr observed in all COVID-19 patients, especially in men, may underlie this dysregulation of antibody production,” Wing said.
Identifying this cellular basis for known sex differences will be key to protecting everyone from COVID-19, especially those most at risk, the researchers added.public transport
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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