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SARS‐CoV‐2 infection results in different outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to mild or severe disease and death. Reasons for this diversity of outcome include differences in challenge dose, age, gender, comorbidity and host genomic variation. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphisms may influence immune response and disease outcome. We investigated the association of HLAII alleles with case definition symptomatic COVID‐19, virus‐specific antibody and T‐cell immunity. A total of 1364 UK healthcare workers (HCWs) were recruited during the first UK SARS‐CoV‐2 wave and analysed longitudinally, encompassing regular PCR screening for infection, symptom reporting, imputation of HLAII genotype and analysis for antibody and T‐cell responses to nucleoprotein (N) and spike (S). Of 272 (20%) HCW who seroconverted, the presence of HLA‐DRB1*13:02 was associated with a 6·7‐fold increased risk of case definition symptomatic COVID‐19. In terms of immune responsiveness, HLA‐DRB1*15:02 was associated with lower nucleocapsid T‐cell responses. There was no association between DRB1 alleles and anti‐spike antibody titres after two COVID vaccine doses. However, HLA DRB1*15:01 was associated with increased spike T‐cell responses following both first and second dose vaccination. Trial registration: NCT04318314 and ISRCTN15677965. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 50th anniversary of the journal "Immunology" in Great Britain. The author traces the beginnings of its existence and its purpose was to become the first committed journal for immunologists. The author mentions the immunological contributions involving immunologists such as the idea of cell-mediated suppression.

The Gm serum groups in man have been investigated serologically and genetically. Two populations have been studied. In Great Britain the frequency of the Gm (a+) phenotype is 60.98 per cent. In the Ferrara district of Italy the frequency is 40-18 per cent. Family studies in both populations support the hypothesis that the Gm (a+) phenotype is determined by a gene which is expressed in the heterozygote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]