Longitudinal characteristics of lymphocyte responses and cytokine profiles in the peripheral blood of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients

BackgroundThe dynamic changes of lymphocyte subsets and cytokines profiles of patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and their correlation with the disease severity remain unclear. MethodsPeripheral blood samples were longitudinally collected from 40 confirmed COVID-19 patients and examined for lymphocyte subsets by flow cytometry and cytokine profiles by specific immunoassays. ResultsOf the 40 COVID-19 patients enrolled, 13 severe cases showed significant and sustained decreases in lymphocyte counts but increases in neutrophil counts than 27 mild cases. Further analysis demonstrated significant decreases in the counts of T cells, especially CD8 + T cells, as well as increases in IL-6, IL-10, IL-2 and IFN-{gamma} levels in the peripheral blood in the severe cases compared to those in the mild cases. T cell counts and cytokine levels in severe COVID-19 patients who survived the disease gradually recovered at later time points to levels that were comparable to those of the mild cases. Moreover, the neutrophil-to-CD8+ T cell ratio (N8R) were identified as the most powerful prognostic factor affecting the prognosis for severe COVID-19. ConclusionsThe degree of lymphopenia and a proinflammatory cytokine storm is higher in severe COVID-19 patients than in mild cases, and is associated with the disease severity. N8R may serve as a useful prognostic factor for early identification of severe COVID-19 cases. SummaryLymphocyte subsets and cytokine profiles in the peripheral blood of COVID-19 patients were longitudinally characterized. The study revealed the kinetics features of immune parameters associated with the disease severity and identified N8R as a useful prognostic factor for predicting severe COVID-19 cases.

Research advances in antiviral drugs and their treatment regimens in chronic hepatitis C / 临床肝胆病杂志

Chronic hepatitis C has become a serious public health issue around the world.In recent years,with the development of pharmacotherapy for hepatitis C,it may be possible to cure hepatitis C.With reference to the epidemic status of hepatitis C and the advantages and side effects of conventional standard therapy (pegylated interferon plus ribavirin) and various oral direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs),this article summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of different combinations of DAAs in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with different genotypes and briefly introduces the World Health Organization recommendations on the treatment of hepatitis C.Hepatitis C is expected to be eliminated with the development of pharmacotherapy for chronic hepatitis C.

Retrospective analysis of clinical diagnosis of 21 cases of human ehrlichiosis / 中华传染病杂志

Objective To investigate epidemiological and clinical features of human ehrlichiosis.Methods The epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, therapeutic and prognostic data of 21 clinically diagnosed cases of human ehrlichiosis were retrospectively analyzed. Results The epidemic regions where the ticks' activity was high located at the boundary between Hubei and Henan Provinces. All cases were farmers. The median age was 50 years ranged from 19 to 69 years. The male female ratio evident history of tick bite 1 week before the onset. The common symptoms included fever, diarrhea,cough, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and expectoration. The complications included hemorrhage, toxic encephalopathy, acute renal insufficiency, secondary infection and respiratory failure. The common abnormalities of routine lab data were thrombocytopenia, hypoeosinophilia,elevated lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase and aminotransferases, leucopenia and proteinuria.Nine cases were tested with peripheral blood smear and intracytoplasmic inclusions in neutrophils were found in one case. Seventeen cases were tested with serological assay and antibodies against Ehrlichia were positive in five cases. After doxycycline, symptomatic and supportive treatments, 14 cases were recovered and seven died. The average age of the deaths was 56 years. Conclusions Human ehrlichiosis is an acute tick-borne zoonosis and multiorgan could be involved. The older cases prone to develop complications and the prognosis is poor.

Tea polyphenols exerts anti-hepatitis B virus effects in a stably HBV-transfected cell line / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

In this study, the anti-HBV effects of tea polyphenols (TP) were examined. After cells were exposed to TP for 3, 6, 9 days, amounts of HBsAg, HBeAg and HBV-DNA released into the supernatant of the cultured HepG2 2.2.15 cells were detected. TP, to some extent, inhibited the secretion of HBsAg and strongly suppressed the secretion of HBeAg in a dose-dependent (P<0.01) and time-dependent manner, with 50% maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value being 7.34 microg/mL on the 9th day, but the time-dependence was not significant (P=0.051). Expression of HBV-DNA in the supernatant of the cell culture also was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent fashion (P<0.01). The IC50 of TP in inhibiting HBV DNA was 2.54 microg/mL. It concluded that TP possessed potential anti-HBV effects and may be used as a treatment alternative for HBV infection.

Inhibitive Effects of Somatostatin on LPS-stimulated Rat Kupffer Cells / 中华医院感染学杂志

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of somatostatin(SST)on expression of NO,TNF? and 5-lipoxygenase(5-LO)in primary cultured rat Kupffer cells induced by LPS.METHODS Kupffer cells isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured in the presence of LPS added alone or with SST for 12,24 and 48 h,and the production of TNF? was assessed in culture supernatants by ELISA and that of nitric oxide(NO)by nitrate reductase method.5-LO mRNA expression was assessed by semiquantitative RT-PCR.RESULTS Vehicle-stimulated Kupffer cells produced a basal amount of NO,TNF? and expressed 5-LO mRNA.Kupffer cells stimulated by LPS secreted significantly increased amounts of NO and TNF?(P0.05).CONCLUSIONS SST modulates NO,TNF? production and 5-LO mRNA expression by LPS-stlimulated Kupffer cells.