Natural antibody responses in asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic, severely symptomatic and critically ill patients with COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by considerable variability in infection rate and mortality, even among neighboring countries. Although some of these differences may be due to different diagnostic testing strategies and confinement measures, the higher mortality rates in countries with more advanced healthcare systems suggest a role for genetic factors. The main goal of this project is to determine whether differences in the severity of the disease are caused by genetic factors that regulate the immune response. In particular, we will investigate whether disease progression is caused by defective natural antibody and cytotoxic T cell responses, and whether such defects result from genetic risk variants associated with more severe disease in other viral infections. The answers to these questions will have key implications for the appropriate design of clinical trials aimed at modulating the anti-COVID-19 immune response, and for the identification of patients at greater risk for disease progression.