Peripheral immunological features of COVID-19 patients in Taizhou, China: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background Abnormal peripheral immunological features are associated with the progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods Clinical and laboratory data were retrieved in a cohort of 146 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients. Potential risk factors for the development of severe COVID-19 were evaluated. Results On admission, lymphocytes, CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, eosinophils, and albumin and pre-albumin were dramatically lower, whereas neutrophils, and interleukin (IL)-10, C-reactive protein (CRP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) were significantly higher in severe cases. By the second week after discharge, all variables improved to normal levels. Covariate logistic regression results showed that the CD8+ cell count and CRP level were independent risk factors for severe COVID-19. Conclusion Lower peripheral immune cell subsets in patients with severe disease recovered to normal levels as early as the second week after discharge. CD8+ T cell counts and CRP levels on admission are independent predictive factors for severe COVID-19.

COVID-19 is associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia and malnutrition in hospitalized patients during the spring 2020 wave of the pandemic

“…Our study identified that the majority of these well-known pathophysiological elements were associated with disease-related MN in COVID-19 patients, and included older age; anorexia and reduced food intake; respiratory failure; fever during the viral response phase; and catabolic changes due the host inflammatory response phase (increased ferritin and CRP levels, tocilizumab treatment, and higher disease severity). In addition, we observed a considerable reduction in muscle mass and visceral protein markers (albumin, total lymphocytes and cholesterol) at admission, as reported in other studies [41,67]. At discharge, we found significant improvements in levels of CRP, ferritin and T lymphocytes [41,67] and in some nutritional biomarkers that could be related to the favorable progression of the disease.…”

“…In addition, we observed a considerable reduction in muscle mass and visceral protein markers (albumin, total lymphocytes and cholesterol) at admission, as reported in other studies [41,67]. At discharge, we found significant improvements in levels of CRP, ferritin and T lymphocytes [41,67] and in some nutritional biomarkers that could be related to the favorable progression of the disease. Our contribution here is the identification of OD at admission as an independent factor for MN during hospitalization of COVID-19 patients.…”

The evaluation of the immune status of COVID-19 recovered subjects with persistent abnormal lung CT after one year: A longitudinal cohort study

“…Longitudinal observation of immune indicators in recovered patients showed that compared with the 2-week follow-up after discharge, lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets increased, cytokines decreased, and complement series decreased to normal levels at one-year follow-up, except for the abnormal CT group. This is an addition to previous studies reporting that the immune system gradually recovered to a steady state after two weeks of discharge [7] , [17] , [18] , and also reflects the need for long-term follow-up. Interestingly, compared with healthy controls, the normal group had higher NK cell count levels at one-year follow-up, which also suggested that NK cells were a prognostic factor for good recovery of lung function [13] .…”

“…There is evidence that complement activation is the pathophysiological basis of many lung diseases, such as asthma and acute respiratory distress syndrome [5] , and also leads to immune-mediated lung injury [6] . Normal immune status was found among COVID-19 recovered subjects 2 weeks after the discharge [7] . However, the long-term immune status of COIVD-19 patients has not been reported in the literature.…”

Perspective of HLA-G Induced Immunosuppression in SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…Our previous studies revealed that total lymphocytes, CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells were dramatically lower among patients with severe COVID-19 than among non-severe patients at admission. These cells returned to normal levels by the second week after discharge, however, lower CD8+ T cell count is an independent risk factor for longer viral positivity duration and is related to an increased risk for discharged patients with SARS-CoV-2 re-positivity ( 9 – 11 ). Pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP) 1α/CCL3, interferon (IFN)-γ-induced protein 10 (IP10), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), were substantially increased ( 12 , 13 ).…”