SARS-CoV-2 infection of thymus induces loss of function that correlates with disease severity.
J Allergy Clin Immunol
; 151(4): 911-921, 2023 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2235011
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Lymphopenia, particularly when restricted to the T-cell compartment, has been described as one of the major clinical hallmarks in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and proposed as an indicator of disease severity. Although several mechanisms fostering COVID-19-related lymphopenia have been described, including cell apoptosis and tissue homing, the underlying causes of the decline in T-cell count and function are still not completely understood.OBJECTIVE:
Given that viral infections can directly target thymic microenvironment and impair the process of T-cell generation, we sought to investigate the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on thymic function.METHODS:
We performed molecular quantification of T-cell receptor excision circles and κ-deleting recombination excision circles to assess, respectively, T- and B-cell neogenesis in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. We developed a system for in vitro culture of primary human thymic epithelial cells (TECs) to mechanistically investigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on TEC function.RESULTS:
We showed that patients with COVID-19 had reduced thymic function that was inversely associated with the severity of the disease. We found that angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, through which SARS-CoV-2 enters the host cells, was expressed by thymic epithelium, and in particular by medullary TECs. We also demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 can target TECs and downregulate critical genes and pathways associated with epithelial cell adhesion and survival.CONCLUSIONS:
Our data demonstrate that the human thymus is a target of SARS-CoV-2 and thymic function is altered following infection. These findings expand our current knowledge of the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on T-cell homeostasis and suggest that monitoring thymic activity may be a useful marker to predict disease severity and progression.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Lymphopenia
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.jaci.2023.01.022
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