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Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Epublish 13 citations

PubMed: 36403042 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-022-01926-8

Characteristics of lymphocyte subset alterations in COVID-19 patients with different levels of disease severity.

Virol J 19(1):192

Authors: Wei Dai, Aifang Zhong, Qinghua Qiao, Jian Wu, Weiwei Li, Qiuyue Wu, Hongjian Zhou, Shijie Qin, Weijun Jiang, Jing Zhang, Xinyi Xia

Affiliations

  • Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China. School of Animal Science and Food Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 210038, Jiangsu, China.
  • Department of Laboratory Medicine and Blood Transfusion, Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, Wuhan, 430100, Hubei, China.
  • Medical Technical Support Division, the 904Th Hospital, Changzhou, 213003, Jiangsu, China.
  • Department of Laboratory Medicine and Blood Transfusion, Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, Wuhan, 430100, Hubei, China. Medical and Technical Support Department, Pingdingshan Medical District, The 989Th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistic Support Force,, Pingdingshan, 467000, Henan, China.
  • Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China. School of Biomedical and Informatics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, China.
  • Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China.
  • Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Blood Transfusion, Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, Wuhan, 430100, Hubei, China.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disorder caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which had rapidly spread all over the world and caused public health emergencies in the past two years. Although the diagnosis and treatment for COVID-19 have been well defined, the immune cell characteristics and the key lymphocytes subset alterations in COVID-19 patients have not been thoroughly investigated.

METHODS

The levels of immune cells including T cells, B cells, and natural killer (NK) cells in 548 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and 30 types of lymphocyte subsets in 125 hospitalized COVID-19 patients admitted to Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital of China were measured using flow cytometry. The relationship between lymphocytes subsets with the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the characteristics of lymphocyte subsets in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were also analysed in COVID-19 patients.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that patients with critical COVID-19 infection exhibited an overall decline in lymphocytes including CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, total T cells, B cells, and NK cells compared to mild and severe patients. However, the number of lymphocyte subsets, such as CD21 CD38 B cells, effector T4 cells, and PD1 depleted T8 cells, was moderately increased in critical COVID-19 patients compared to mild cases. Notably, except for effector memory T4 cells, plasma blasts and Tregs, the number of all lymphocyte subsets was markedly decreased in COVID-19 patients with IL-6 levels over 30-fold higher than those in healthy cases. Moreover, scRNA-seq data showed obvious differences in the distribution and numbers of lymphocyte subsets between COVID-19 patients and healthy persons, and subsets-specific marker genes of lymphocyte subsets including CD4, CD19, CCR7, and IL7R, were markedly decreased in COVID-19 patients compared with those in healthy cases.

CONCLUSION

A comprehensive decrease in immune cell and lymphocyte subsets in critical COVID-19 patients, and peripheral lymphocyte subset alterations showed a clear association with clinical characteristics.

MeSH

Infections, Rna, Virology, Cells, Interleukin-6, B-Lymphocytes, Lymphocyte Subsets, Covid-19, Sars-Cov-2

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