Autophagy Hijacking in PBMC From COVID-19 Patients Results in Lymphopenia.
Front Immunol
; 13: 903498, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1903026
ABSTRACT
Autophagy is a homeostatic process responsible for the self-digestion of intracellular components and antimicrobial defense by inducing the degradation of pathogens into autophagolysosomes. Recent findings suggest an involvement of this process in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, the role of autophagy in the immunological mechanisms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis remains largely unexplored. This study reveals the presence of autophagy defects in peripheral immune cells from COVID-19 patients. The impairment of the autophagy process resulted in a higher percentage of lymphocytes undergoing apoptosis in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the inverse correlation between autophagy markers levels and peripheral lymphocyte counts in COVID-19 patients confirms how a defect in autophagy might contribute to lymphopenia, causing a reduction in the activation of viral defense. These results provided intriguing data that could help in understanding the cellular underlying mechanisms in COVID-19 infection, especially in severe forms.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Lymphopenia
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Immunol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fimmu.2022.903498
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