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Immune Profile in Patients With COVID-19 : Lymphocytes Exhaustion Markers in Relationship to Clinical Outcome

Bobcakova, Anna ; Petriskova, Jela ; Vysehradsky, Robert ; Kocan, Ivan ; Kapustova, Lenka ; Barnova, Martina ; Diamant, Zuzana LU and Jesenak, Milos (2021) In Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology 11.
Abstract

The velocity of the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the variable severity of the disease course has forced scientists to search for potential predictors of the disease outcome. We examined various immune parameters including the markers of immune cells exhaustion and activation in 21 patients with COVID-19 disease hospitalised in our hospital during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. The results showed significant progressive lymphopenia and depletion of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD19+) in correlation to the disease severity. Clinical recovery was associated with significant increase in CD3+ and CD3+CD4+ T-cells. Most of our... (More)

The velocity of the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the variable severity of the disease course has forced scientists to search for potential predictors of the disease outcome. We examined various immune parameters including the markers of immune cells exhaustion and activation in 21 patients with COVID-19 disease hospitalised in our hospital during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. The results showed significant progressive lymphopenia and depletion of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD19+) in correlation to the disease severity. Clinical recovery was associated with significant increase in CD3+ and CD3+CD4+ T-cells. Most of our patients had eosinopenia on admission, although no significant differences were seen among groups with different disease severity. Non-survivors, when compared to survivors, had significantly increased expression of PD-1 on CD4+ and CD8+ cells, but no significant difference in Tim-3 expression was observed, what suggests possible reversibility of immune paralysis in the most severe group of patients. During recovery, the expression of Tim-3 on both CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ cells significantly decreased. Moreover, patients with fatal outcome had significantly higher proportion of CD38+CD8+ cells and lower proportion of CD38+HLA-DR+CD8+ cells on admission. Clinical recovery was associated with significant decrease of proportion of CD38+CD8+ cells. The highest AUC values within univariate and multivariate logistic regression were achieved for expression of CD38 on CD8+ cells and expression of PD1 on CD4+ cells alone or combined, what suggests, that these parameters could be used as potential biomarkers of poor outcome. The assessment of immune markers could help in predicting outcome and disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Our observations suggest, that apart from the degree of depletion of total lymphocytes and lymphocytes subsets, increased expression of CD38 on CD3+CD8+ cells alone or combined with increased expression of PD-1 on CD3+CD4+ cells, should be regarded as a risk factor of an unfavourable outcome in COVID-19 patients. Increased expression of PD-1 in the absence of an increased expression of Tim-3 on CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ cells suggests potential reversibility of ongoing immune paralysis in patients with the most severe course of COVID-19.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
clinical outcome, COVID-19, immune cells exhaustion, immunologic predictors, SARS-CoV-2
in
Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology
volume
11
article number
646688
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85104994216
  • pmid:33937096
ISSN
2235-2988
DOI
10.3389/fcimb.2021.646688
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1a3b9cb2-ce74-4e1c-9c8f-749509fd3659
date added to LUP
2021-05-17 14:15:43
date last changed
2024-06-15 11:15:34
@article{1a3b9cb2-ce74-4e1c-9c8f-749509fd3659,
  abstract     = {{<p>The velocity of the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the variable severity of the disease course has forced scientists to search for potential predictors of the disease outcome. We examined various immune parameters including the markers of immune cells exhaustion and activation in 21 patients with COVID-19 disease hospitalised in our hospital during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. The results showed significant progressive lymphopenia and depletion of lymphocyte subsets (CD3<sup>+</sup>, CD4<sup>+</sup>, CD8<sup>+</sup> and CD19<sup>+</sup>) in correlation to the disease severity. Clinical recovery was associated with significant increase in CD3<sup>+</sup> and CD3<sup>+</sup>CD4<sup>+</sup> T-cells. Most of our patients had eosinopenia on admission, although no significant differences were seen among groups with different disease severity. Non-survivors, when compared to survivors, had significantly increased expression of PD-1 on CD4<sup>+</sup> and CD8<sup>+</sup> cells, but no significant difference in Tim-3 expression was observed, what suggests possible reversibility of immune paralysis in the most severe group of patients. During recovery, the expression of Tim-3 on both CD3<sup>+</sup>CD4<sup>+</sup> and CD3<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells significantly decreased. Moreover, patients with fatal outcome had significantly higher proportion of CD38<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells and lower proportion of CD38<sup>+</sup>HLA-DR<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells on admission. Clinical recovery was associated with significant decrease of proportion of CD38<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells. The highest AUC values within univariate and multivariate logistic regression were achieved for expression of CD38 on CD8<sup>+</sup> cells and expression of PD1 on CD4<sup>+</sup> cells alone or combined, what suggests, that these parameters could be used as potential biomarkers of poor outcome. The assessment of immune markers could help in predicting outcome and disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Our observations suggest, that apart from the degree of depletion of total lymphocytes and lymphocytes subsets, increased expression of CD38 on CD3<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells alone or combined with increased expression of PD-1 on CD3<sup>+</sup>CD4<sup>+</sup> cells, should be regarded as a risk factor of an unfavourable outcome in COVID-19 patients. Increased expression of PD-1 in the absence of an increased expression of Tim-3 on CD3<sup>+</sup>CD4<sup>+</sup> and CD3<sup>+</sup>CD8<sup>+</sup> cells suggests potential reversibility of ongoing immune paralysis in patients with the most severe course of COVID-19.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bobcakova, Anna and Petriskova, Jela and Vysehradsky, Robert and Kocan, Ivan and Kapustova, Lenka and Barnova, Martina and Diamant, Zuzana and Jesenak, Milos}},
  issn         = {{2235-2988}},
  keywords     = {{clinical outcome; COVID-19; immune cells exhaustion; immunologic predictors; SARS-CoV-2}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology}},
  title        = {{Immune Profile in Patients With COVID-19 : Lymphocytes Exhaustion Markers in Relationship to Clinical Outcome}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.646688}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fcimb.2021.646688}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}