Immune Characteristics of Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Abstract

Up to now, little is known about the detailed immune profiles of COVID-19 patients from admission to discharge. In this study we retrospectively reviewed the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 18 COVID-19 patients from January 30, 2020 to February 21, 2020. These patients were divided into two groups; group 1 had a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid-positive duration for more than 15 days (n = 6) and group 2 had a nucleic acid-positive duration for less than 15 days (n = 12). Group 1 patients had lower level of peripheral blood lymphocytes (0.40 vs. 0.78 ×10 9 /L, p = 0.024) and serum potassium (3.36 vs. 3.79 mmol/L, p = 0.043) on admission but longer hospitalization days (23.17 vs. 15.75 days, p < 0.001) compared to Group 2 patients. Moreover, baseline level of lymphocytes (r =-0.62, p = 0.006) was negatively correlated with the nucleic acid-positive duration. Additionally, lymphocytes (420.83 vs. 1100.56 /μL), T cells (232.50 vs. 706.78 /μL), CD4 + T cells (114.67 vs. 410.44 /μL), and CD8 + T cells (94.83 vs. 257.44 /μL) in the peripheral blood analyzed by flow cytometry were significantly different between Group 1and Group 2. Furthermore, there was also a negative correlation between lymphocytes (r =-0.54, p = 0.038) or T cells (r =-0.55, p = 0.034) at diagnosis and the nucleic acid-positive duration, separately. In conclusion, the patients with nucleic acid-positive ≥ 15 days had significantly decreased lymphocytes, T cell and its subsets compared to those who remained positive for less than 15 days.

A novel ratio of CD8+:B-cells as a prognostic marker of coronavirus disease 2019 patient progression and outcome

“…An increase of CD4 + :CD8 + ( Fig. 2 ) as well as IL-6:IL-10 (data not shown) ratios in intubated patients was observed in line with all up to date reports ( Wang et al, 2020a ), ( Liu et al, 2020 ), ( Dong et al, 2020 ), ( Odak et al, 2020 ), ( Song et al, 2020 ), ( Wang et al, 2020b ). Both intubated and non-intubated patients showed a marked reduction of all lymphocyte subsets apart from NK cells the majority of which remained within the normal range for both groups of patients.…”

T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans: A systematic review

“…Of the included reports, 34 (56%) were peer-reviewed journal papers [ 3 , 8 – 40 ]. Two animal-based, basic science studies were included [ 30 , 41 ] but the overwhelming majority of reports were in humans, for which the most common designs were case-control (n = 26, 43%) [ 10 – 12 , 14 , 17 , 21 , 23 , 25 – 29 , 31 , 32 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 42 – 50 ] and cohort (n = 22, 36%) [ 8 , 13 , 15 , 16 , 20 , 22 , 34 , 36 , 39 , 51 – 62 ]. 50 studies (82%) considered participants sampled from hospital settings [ 8 , 9 , 11 – 29 , 31 – 40 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 48 – 50 , 53 , 54 , 56 – 65 ].…”

Cytokine Signature Associated With Disease Severity in COVID-19

“…Our previous study revealed that immunological disorders play an important role in the progression of COVID-19 ( 12 , 13 ). The specific pathogenesis of cytokine storm is still unclear.…”