(1/n) The important role of natural killer (NK) cells in COVID-19.
A summary of key insights:
- NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes & part of the innate immune system
- They play an important role in virus infection control & immunomodulation

(2/n)
- The NK cell proliferation ability declines with age: older people have a decreased ability to produce NC cells rapidly: https://t.co/VZ9PSW5OBU
(3/n)
- As early as June 2020, it was hypothesised that NCCs could be key in explaining severe COVID-19 courses: https://t.co/yJPXeXcku0
(4/n)
- Indeed, it was later found that NK cells from COVID-19 patients do not function well:https://t.co/aEK9KpaA45
(5/n)
- The activity of NK cells is downregulated by the cytokine transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ)
- Blood serum of patients with severe COVID-19 inhibits NK cell function in a TGFβ-dependent manner: https://t.co/aEK9KpaA45
(6/n)
- An untimely early production of TGFβ and associated NK cell dysfunction is a hallmark of severe COVID-19
- The inhibition of untimely TGFβ production & the promotion of NK cell function may positively affect SARS-CoV-2 control on multiple levels: https://t.co/zjeCnASWhx
(7/n)
- A lower NK cell count in COVID-19 patients has been shown to be correlated with a lower survival rate:https://t.co/EUQkL76GhW
(8/n)
- NK cell dysregulation as a key factor in COVID-19 was also highlighted 1.5 years ago: https://t.co/Dg0KmYT2iS
- “Restoration of NK cell effector functions has the potential to correct the delicate immune balance required to effectively overcome SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
(9/n)
- Vitamin D (our old friend!) also plays a role for the NK cells. Vitamin D deficiency correlates with a reduced number of NK cells in COVID-19 patients: https://t.co/YNrvKIrlgj
(10/n)
- While early NK cell stimulation & IFN-γ production is beneficial to combat infections, excessive & prolonged stimulation of NK cells leads to reduced NK cell numbers & an exhausted phenotype associated with increased systemic inflammation:
https://t.co/vPpfKbntne
(11/n) Phase 1 ⤑ Phase 2
(12/n)
- The vitamins A, B, C, D and E influence NK cell activity:
https://t.co/37ucftVsXp
(13/n) Also phytochemicals haven an effect on NK cell activity:
https://t.co/37ucftVsXp
(14/n) To summarize:
- NK cells play an important role in COVID-19 disease severity and outcomes
- Age, vitamin deficiencies, etc. negatively affect the functioning of NK cells
- Therapeutic approaches for COVID-19 should include support of NK cell function

You May Also Like

THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE


2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less.
https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n


3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)


4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3


5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.


The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.

This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.

The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."

This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.