The invisible battle of our immune system against COVID-19

The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad has asked the question why some people only get mild symptoms from the Corona virus and others end up in the ICU. The LUMC BEAT-COVID team, consisting of, among others, Prof. dr. Jacques van Dongen, Prof. dr. Frank Staal and Dr. Mihaela Zlei of the LUMC Department of Immunology outline how flow cytometry gives insight in the strength of the immune response to the virus.

The invisible battle of our immune system against COVID-19

The analysis shows that young people react strongly, while in older people there is a broad range in the strength of the immune reaction, related to the degree of immunosenescence. Centenarians who have experienced a mild Corona infection appear to have a relatively "young" immune system. The combined results show that standardization by age-dependent reference values ​​is needed to get an accurate picture.

Read here the entire article in the national Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (May 28, 2021)

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