Objective:

To describe the molecular and cellular aspects of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2 and the clinical repercussions resulting from inefficient immune mechanisms.

Introduction:

The emergence of an atypical pneumonia in China in December 2019 led to a global confinement. The agent responsible for this new disease was named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of viruses, and the disease it produces was named COVID-19 by the WHO on February 11, 2020.

Methodology:

For this descriptive study we researched the databases of Pubmed, Science, Nature, The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, medRxiv and Google Scholar; which descriptors used were: COVID-19, 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV-2, lymphocytes, antibodies and immunity; including 130 studies in the review.

Results:

The most common clinical manifestations produced by SARS-CoV-2 are: fever, dry cough and fatigue, being the elderly people who are mostly having complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, arrhythmias, acute heart failure and septic shock. Significant decreases in NK cells, B lymphocytes, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were identified in peripheral blood in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 conditions.

Discussion:

NK cells and macrophages are responsible for viral containment and elimination in the early stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The relevance of the humoral response in the containment and elimination of SARS-CoV-2 is unclear. The cytotoxic T lymphocyte response is essential for the complete resolution of SARS-CoV-2 infection, as they achieve the elimination of infected cells. There is no specific antiviral treatment recommended yet for COVID-19, and there is currently no vaccine available.