Dear Immunology Insider,

Welcome to the next edition of ScienceBoard's Immunology Insider! Leaps and bounds of progress have been made in many areas of immunology since our last newsletter.

To begin with, immunology has been central for understanding host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. Recently, immunologists from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Columbia University have been working to understand why children respond differently to the virus and seem to be more protected than adults. This work may lead to new avenues of therapeutic development.

Other questions about COVID-19 that immunology research is helping to answer include the following:

• Will the virus acquire resistance to a vaccine?
• How do asymptomatic carriers differ from symptomatic patients?
• Are T-cell and antibody responses important in SARS-CoV-2 and how long do they last?
• Do monoclonal antibodies protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection?

In terms of COVID-19 vaccines, recent updates from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna phase III clinical trials claim that each candidate is highly protective against infection. Some companies have not experienced such a smooth road. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held back COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials of early front-runners Inovio and Johnson & Johnson in September and October, respectively. Both trials have since been restarted.

Besides these companies, others are working on early-stage development and immunogenicity studies. These include candidates from BioVaxys, ImmunityBio, ImmunoPrecise, Ufovax, and Axon Neuroscience, among others.

Also, an entirely new class of COVID-19 vaccines is beginning to emerge. Until recently, most vaccines under development have consisted of DNA/RNA or protein subunit-based platforms. Now, Tonix Pharmaceuticals is advancing its modified live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccine candidate into early clinical trials.

For comprehensive coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, please visit the Vaccines section of our Immunology Community.

Beyond COVID-19, there have been many advancements in basic immunology research in the past months. A new study identified bidirectional metabolic control over the function of effector regulatory T cells that may help identify new targets for autoimmune diseases. A group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a massively parallel single-cell RNA sequencing protocol that allows scientists to extract 10 times more information from a single cell.

And researchers have found that combining two monoclonal antibody treatments can increase the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies by blocking the immunosuppressive effects of regulatory T cells in tumor cells.

We would love to hear about your work related to immunology. Email us today and let us know!