COVID-19 myocarditis: quantitative analysis of the inflammatory infiltrate and a proposed mechanism.
Cardiovasc Pathol
; 54: 107361, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1281392
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has a significant effect upon the cardiovascular system. While a number of different cardiovascular histopathologies have been described at post-mortem examination, the incidence of typical viral myocarditis in COVID-19 positive patients appears very low [1-3]. In this study, we further characterize and quantify the inflammatory cell infiltrate in a COVID-19 study cohort and compare the findings to both an age and disease matched control cohort and a cohort of patients diagnosed with typical inflammatory myocarditis. All study and control cohorts had 1 or more of the comorbidities most commonly associated with severe disease (hypertension, type II diabetes, obesity, or known cardiovascular disease). The results demonstrate a skewed distribution of the number of CD68+ cells in COVID-19 hearts, with upper quantiles showing a significant increase as compared to both matched control hearts, and those with myocarditis. In contrast, hearts from typical inflammatory myocarditis contained increased numbers of CD4+, and CD8+ cells compared to both COVID-19 and control cohorts. In conclusion, the presence of an increased number of CD68+ cells suggests that COVID-19 may incite a form of myocarditis different from typical viral myocarditis, and associated with diffusely infiltrative cells of monocytes/macrophage lineage.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic
/
Antigens, CD
/
COVID-19
/
Macrophages
/
Myocarditis
/
Myocardium
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Cardiovasc Pathol
Journal subject:
Vascular Diseases
/
Cardiology
/
Pathology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.carpath.2021.107361
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