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Fig. 1 | Biology Direct

Fig. 1

From: The immune system view of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Fig. 1

Efficient anti-viral immunity phase as feature of mild infection. Mild infection is characterized by efficient anti-viral immunity phase aimed to eliminate viruses from the host and resolve the infection. A cytokine storm, prevalently formed by anti-viral cytokines (e.g., type-I [IFN-α] and type-III [IFN-λ]) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1-β, etc), is produced by innate immune cells, such as macrophages and DCs. Various innate immune cells (ILCs, NK cells, NKT cells) also intervene to limit viral spread. Consequently, the adaptive responses are mounted to both directly kill virus-infected cells by antigen-specific effector CD8+ T cells and to neutralize the virions by antibody producing antigen-specific B cells. IFN-γ production by T cells, as well as by ILCs, NK and NKT cells contribute to viral clearance. Finally, memory T and B cells are generated to guarantee the host protection against secondary infections. An immunoregulatory mechanism mediated by immune checkpoint blockade (e.g., by PD-1, CTLA-4) and Tregs results crucial for the resolution of immunopathology

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