<story><title>The first human trial in Europe of a coronavirus vaccine has begun in Oxford</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52394485</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>royletron</author><text>My partner is taking part in the trial in Oxford. So far there was a bit of an anomaly on her blood work so they&amp;#x27;re bringing in her in for another round of tests but I&amp;#x27;m happy to ask her to share (or allow me to share by proxy) her experience. Obviously she has no idea whether she is in the control group or not.</text></comment>
<story><title>The first human trial in Europe of a coronavirus vaccine has begun in Oxford</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52394485</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>twic</author><text>The thing i like most about this vaccine is that it&amp;#x27;s a T-cell vaccine.&lt;p&gt;Very broadly speaking, the adaptive immune system has two arms.&lt;p&gt;One arm, humoral immunity, is about detecting foreign substances in the spaces outside cells: B-cells make antibodies, antibodies inspect molecules floating around, a match triggers the B-cells to proliferate and make more antibodies, and then antibodies tell macrophages and various other brutal cells to destroy and eat everything in sight, resulting in inflammation, but hopefully killing the invader.&lt;p&gt;The other arm, cellular immunity, is about detecting foreign proteins inside cells: T-cells make T-cell receptors, T-cell receptors inspect peptides presented on the surface of cells through some amazing machinery culminating in the MHC I protein, a match triggers the T-cells to proliferate, and the T-cells themselves go round triggering self-destruction of cells presenting the foreign peptides.&lt;p&gt;(I&amp;#x27;m leaving out MHC II and helper T cells here, let alone T-regulatory cells, gamma delta T cells and all sorts of other things i don&amp;#x27;t know about)&lt;p&gt;Both wings are useful in response to a viral infection, but ultimately, the cellular immunity is key. Viruses commandeer and replicate inside cells, so to stop an infection, you need to find and kill those cells. Cellular immunity does that.&lt;p&gt;Vaccines based on injecting proteins or dead viruses can only develop humoral immunity. Vaccines based on modified viruses, like this one, can also develop cellular immunity.&lt;p&gt;In theory. So far, there are no T-cell vaccines.</text></comment>