Immunocytometric analysis of COVID patients: A contribution to personalized therapy?
Life Sci
; 261: 118355, 2020 Nov 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-733713
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
This study aims to cast light on immunocytometric alterations in COVID-19, a potentially fatal viral infection with heterogeneous clinical expression and a not completely defined pathophysiology.METHODS:
We studied 35 COVID patients at hospital admission testing by cytofluorimetry a large panel of lymphocyte subpopulations and serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17A and the soluble receptor of IL-17A (IL-17RA). KEYFINDINGS:
At hospital admission, total lymphocytes and most T and B subpopulations were reduced in 50-80% of patients, with close relationship to disease severity. While activated T helper 1 (TH1) and TH17 cells resulted normal or higher. Serum IL-6 was increased in all patients, while TNF-α and IL-17A were higher in advanced stages. A patient subset with low severity had very high IL-17RA levels. Tocilizumab treatment caused an increase of IL-17A in 3/6 patients and a reduction in 3 others, while the lymphocyte number increased in 3 patients and did not change in the others.SIGNIFICANCE:
Cytofluorimetry revealed a functional exhaustion of most lymphocyte populations in COVID patients not involving activated TH1 and TH17. Consequently, there was a relevant cytokines production that contributes to impair the respiratory inflammation. The increase of TH17 and IL-17 in a subset of cases and the evidence of a significant increase of IL-17RA (that prevents the interaction of IL-17 with the cell receptor) in patients with low severity suggest that some patients could benefit from monoclonal antibodies treatment targeting IL-17 pathway. Immunocytofluorimetric markers may contribute to a personalized therapy in COVID patients.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Cytokines
/
Lymphocyte Subsets
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Flow Cytometry
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Life Sci
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.lfs.2020.118355
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