Immunity and Therapeutic Approaches against Coronavirus Disease 2019

The Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in considerable mortality and morbidity worldwide since identified in Wuhan in late 2019. It was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), which is a causative agent of human respiratory tract infection. The detailed mechanism of host immune response and pathogenesis to this virus is not fully elucidated. In this review, we recapitulate the characteristics of immune pathogenies of SARS-CoV-2 infection based on the recent studies of SARS-CoV-2 and previous information on MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV infection that may contribute to disease severity and death. The pathogenesis of COVID-19 includes virus entry and replication, cellular and humoral immunity, cytokine storms, and immune evasion. We also discuss the current approved COVID-19 vaccines in Saudi Arabia; Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2), Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), and Moderna (mRNA-1273). Furthermore, we review the characteristics and the contraindication of vaccines, and the most effective clinical diagnosis for this virus to combat the infection of SARS-CoV-2.   

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