Studying the correlation of inflammatory cytokines to COVID-19 disease.

Extreme response of the immune system develops cytokine storm which might be crucial in the pathology of COVID-19. The research aims to evaluate the serum level of IL-6, TNF-α, and IP-10 in severe, mild, and pre-vaccinated one-dose COVID-19 patients and investigate their clinical value and effect in the disease development among different groups of patients. A total of 72 samples were collected 18 as healthy control and 54 from confirmed COVID-19 patients including 18 mild, 18 severe, and 18 pre-vaccinated (one dose). It was confirmed that the severe group of COVID-19 patients had the highest circulating IL-6, TNF- α, and IP-10. IL-6 level in mild and pre-vaccinated (one dose) was significantly lower than in severe. In conclusion, IL-6, TNF-α, and IP-10 are associated with the pathogenicity of COVID-19, furthermore, vaccination could help to control severity of the disease.

Role of CD27 and SAMHD1 and their genetic susceptibility to COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2, which initiated the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic in 2019, has rapidly emerged and spread, resulting in significant public health challenges worldwide. The COVID-19 severity signs and their association with specific genes have been investigated to better comprehend this phenomenon. In this study, several genes were investigated to see whether they correspond with COVID-19 sickness severity. This research aims to determine and evaluate certain gene expression levels associated with the immune system, as these genes were reported to play important roles in immune control during the COVID-19 outbreak. We analyzed two immunity-linked genes: CD27 and SAMHD1 in COVID-19 patients' samples using RT-PCR, compared them to the samples from recovered, immunized, and healthy individuals. These data were examined to determine the potential relationships between clinical patterns, illness severity, and progression, and SARS-CoV-2 infection immunology. We observed that CD27 gene expression was higher in COVID-19 vaccinated and control groups, but lower in active and recovered COVID-19 patients. On the other hand, SAMHD1 gene expression was elevated in infected and recovered COVID-19 groups. According to our study, the proteins CD27 and SAMHD1 are essential for controlling the immunological response to COVID-19. Changes in their expression levels could increase the susceptibility of patients to severe complications associated with the disease. Therefore, the gene expression level of these proteins could serve as viable prognostic markers for COVID-19.

T Cells Immunophenotyping and CD38 Overexpression as Hallmarks of the Severity of COVID-19 and Predictors of Patients' Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: By the end of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic spread all around the world with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations ranging from mild to moderate to severe or critical cases. T cell subtype dysregulation is mostly involved in the immunopathogenic mechanism. The present study aimed to highlight the role of monitoring T cell subtypes and their activation (expression of CD38) in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy subjects and their role in predicting severity and patients' outcomes. MATERIALS: The study involved 70 adult COVID-19 confirmed cases stratified into three groups: a mild/asymptomatic group, a clinically moderate group, and a clinically severe/critical group. Flow cytometry analysis was used for the assessment of CD3+ cells for total T cell count, CD4+ cells for helper T cells (Th), CD8+ cells for cytotoxic T cells (Tc), CD4+CD25+ cells for regulatory T cells (T reg), and CD38 expression in CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells for T cell activation. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found between COVID-19 cases and healthy controls as regards low counts of all the targeted T cell subtypes, with the lowest counts detected among patients of the severe/critical group. Furthermore, CD38 overexpression was observed in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. CONCLUSION: Decreased T cell count, specifically CD8+ T cell (Tc), with T cell overactivation which was indicated by CD38 overexpression on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells had a substantial prognostic role in predicting severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients. These findings can provide a preliminary tool for clinicians to identify high-risk patients requiring vigilant monitoring, customized supportive therapy, or ICU admission. Studies on larger patient groups are needed.