Immune response characterization for improved understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis

It has become clear that the disease caused by SARS-CoV2, Covid-19, poses a serious threat to the health of billions of people, even more so as a vaccine is not available for the coming months or maybe even years. The clinical manifestation of Covid-19 is very diverse; from no or only mild symptoms to very severe, life-threatening symptoms such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Understanding this wide diversity in clinical manifestations and being able to predict who is at risk of developing severe symptoms will be important to combat the devastating effects of this pandemic. Firstly, it can aid in the development of more effective therapies; secondly, it may help us to prevent life-threatening situations by monitoring people at risk more carefully; and thirdly it can help in developing effective containment strategies with minimal impact on everyday life of the general population. Furthermore, understanding how SARS-CoV2 specific immunity contributes to control of infection or may play a role in more severe disease will aid in development of future vaccines.