Journal of Science: Children's immune response is effective against COVID-19.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 /--- In a recent study, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Children's Hospital (CHAM) and Yale University first identified key differences in the COVID-19 immune response of adults and adolescents that may help to understand why children usually have milder symptoms than adults.
findings are also important for vaccines and drugs to curb COVID-19.
results were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
the study involved 60 adult COVID-19 patients and 65 adolescent COVID-19 patients (under 24 years of age) who were hospitalized in the CHAM and Montefiore health systems from 13 March to 17 May 2020.
20 children with new multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C).
tested the presence of immune cells in a patient's blood, the antibody response, and the amount of inflammatory protein produced by immune cells.
(Photo: www.pixabay.com) showed that teens performed significantly better on COVID-19 than adults.
22 adults (37 per cent) needed mechanical breathing, while only 5 (8 per cent) had adolescent patients.
addition, 17 adults (28 per cent) died in hospitals, while only 2 (3 per cent) of adolescent patients died.
there were no deaths in patients with MIS-C.
"Our findings suggest that children with COVID-19 perform better than adults because their strong innology immunity protects them from SARS-CoV-2 infections," said Betsy Herold, M.D., co-senior author of the study and head of infectious diseases.
people have two types of immunity: congenital and adaptive.
in childhood, innate immunity enables immune cells to respond quickly to various invading pathogens.
adaptive immunity is the second type of immune response, with higher specificity, antibodies and immune cells targeting specific viruses or other microorganisms.
adolescent COVID-19 patients in this study had significantly higher levels of certain cytokines associated with congenic immune response than adult patients.
This suggests that young people have a stronger congenital response that protects them from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and adult COVID-19 patients, both of which are found to have prickly protein antibodies, including neutral antibodies, that prevent coronavirus from infecting cells.
interestingly, the researchers found that adult COVID-19 patients who died or needed mechanical aerence had higher levels of antibodies than recovered patients and significantly higher levels of antibodies detected in pediatric patients.
K. Herold said: "These results suggest that the more severe COVID-19 disease in adults is not caused by their adaptive immunity failing to cause T-cell or antibody reactions.
, adult patients respond to coronavirus infections through an overactive adaptive immune response that may promote inflammation associated with ARDS.
" findings are important for COVID-19 therapies and vaccines.
B. Herold said: "Our poor performance in adult COVID-19 patients with high levels of antibodies suggests that restorative plasma (rich in neutral antibodies) may not help adults who already have ARDS signs.
, therapy that enhances congenital immune response in the early stages of the disease may be particularly beneficial.
.com Source: Study Finds that children's immune protects against THE COVID-19 Original source: "Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infected Pediatrics and Adult Patients." Science Translational Medicine (2020). stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/ ... scitranslmed.abd5487.