Virax Biolabs Group Limited announced it has presented data evaluating the role of T-Cell dysfunction in post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS) at the World Immune Regulation Meeting (WIRM) in Davos, Switzerland. PAISs are often associated with a dysfunction of the immune system, notably progressive T-Cell exhaustion. Chronic antigen stimulation following a chronic infection can cause upregulation of T-Cell exhaustion markers.
Data demonstrated that repeated stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with SARS-CoV-2 and CMV peptide pools increases the proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ T-Cells expressing exhaustion markers PD-1, LAG-3, TIGIT, TIM-3, and CD39 with each stimulation cycle. T-Cell exhaustion is well documented to correlate with reduced cytokine production, particularly of pro-inflammatory cytokines, resulting in impaired immune functionality. Additionally, preliminary data from the ViraxImmune??
PAIS assay showed significant changes in the levels of a number of cytokines investigated in patients with PAIS compared to healthy controls.
