In a damaged lung with a massive cell infiltrate, as seen with severe COVID-19 infection, it can be difficult to figure out which cells are involved in causing lung injury. Understanding this provides a first step to identifying the cells or pathways that can be targeted therapeutically.
In this paper, the authors used a 35-antibody panel to provide a detailed immune landscape of lung biopsies from patients with fatal COVID-19 infection. Using a bespoke suite of mathematical tools, the authors uncovered a specific association between a highly inflammatory cluster of immature neutrophils, CD8 T-cells and regenerating lung stem cells in the most damaged areas of the lungs.
Read the full story on the Medical Research Council Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.