Immune mechanisms underlying COVID-19 pathology and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC)

  1. Sindhu Mohandas  Is a corresponding author
  2. Prasanna Jagannathan
  3. Timothy J Henrich
  4. Zaki A Sherif
  5. Christian Bime
  6. Erin Quinlan
  7. Michael A Portman
  8. Marila Gennaro
  9. Jalees Rehman  Is a corresponding author
  10. RECOVER Mechanistic Pathways Task Force
  1. Division of Infectious Diseases, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, United States
  2. Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, United States
  3. Division of Experimental Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, United States
  4. Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Howard University College of Medicine, United States
  5. Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, United States
  6. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, United States
  7. Seattle Children’s Hospital, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, United States
  8. Public Health Research Institute and Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States
  9. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Illinois, College of Medicine, United States
1 figure

Figures

A simplified overview of responses of the immune system to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, over various time courses that lead to severe COVID-19 and long COVID (PASC) in some patients.

The innate immune response serves as the initial line of defense against the virus, involving the activation of immune cells such as monocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages. These cells release cytokines and chemokines to recruit other immune cells, such as T cells and neutrophils, to the site of infection. Later in the course of the infection, the adaptive immune cells including B plasma cells release antibodies. However, the overreactive immune responses trigger inflammatory conditions that are sustained in PASC due to dysregulation of the immune system. The diagram was created using the Biorender.com software.

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  1. Sindhu Mohandas
  2. Prasanna Jagannathan
  3. Timothy J Henrich
  4. Zaki A Sherif
  5. Christian Bime
  6. Erin Quinlan
  7. Michael A Portman
  8. Marila Gennaro
  9. Jalees Rehman
  10. RECOVER Mechanistic Pathways Task Force
(2023)
Immune mechanisms underlying COVID-19 pathology and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC)
eLife 12:e86014.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86014