Broad phenotypic alterations and potential dysfunction of lymphocytes in individuals clinically recovered from COVID-19.
J Mol Cell Biol
; 13(3): 197-209, 2021 07 06.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1145182
ABSTRACT
Although millions of patients have clinically recovered from COVID-19, little is known about the immune status of lymphocytes in these individuals. In this study, the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a clinically recovered (CR) cohort were comparatively analyzed with those of an age- and sex-matched healthy donor cohort. We found that CD8+ T cells in the CR cohort had higher numbers of effector T cells and effector memory T cells but lower Tc1 (IFN-γ+), Tc2 (IL-4+), and Tc17 (IL-17A+) cell frequencies. The CD4+ T cells of the CR cohort were decreased in frequency, especially the central memory T cell subset. Moreover, CD4+ T cells in the CR cohort showed lower programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) expression and had lower frequencies of Th1 (IFN-γ+), Th2 (IL-4+), Th17 (IL-17A+), and circulating follicular helper T (CXCR5+PD-1+) cells. Accordingly, the proportion of isotype-switched memory B cells (IgM-CD20hi) among B cells in the CR cohort showed a significantly lower proportion, although the level of the activation marker CD71 was elevated. For CD3-HLA-DR- lymphocytes in the CR cohort, in addition to lower levels of IFN-γ, granzyme B and T-bet, the correlation between T-bet and IFN-γ was not observed. Additionally, by taking into account the number of days after discharge, all the phenotypes associated with reduced function did not show a tendency toward recovery within 4â11 weeks. The remarkable phenotypic alterations in lymphocytes in the CR cohort suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection profoundly affects lymphocytes and potentially results in dysfunction even after clinical recovery.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
/
CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
J Mol Cell Biol
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jmcb
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