Article ; Online: Analysis of the Long-Term Impact on Cellular Immunity in COVID-19-Recovered Individuals Reveals a Profound NKT Cell Impairment.
2021 Volume 12, Issue 2
Abstract: ... recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that the cellular immune system of COVID-19 patients is ... studied extensively, long-term impacts on the cellular immune system remain to be analyzed. Here ... detected, suggesting that the reduction in NKT-like cells results from cell death months after recovery ...
| Abstract | The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) affected over 120 million people and killed over 2.7 million individuals by March 2021. While acute and intermediate interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system have been studied extensively, long-term impacts on the cellular immune system remain to be analyzed. Here, we comprehensively characterized immunological changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 49 COVID-19-convalescent individuals (CI) in comparison to 27 matched SARS-CoV-2-unexposed individuals (UI). Despite recovery from the disease for more than 2 months, CI showed significant decreases in frequencies of invariant NKT and NKT-like cells compared to UI. Concomitant with the decrease in NKT-like cells, an increase in the percentage of annexin V and 7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) double-positive NKT-like cells was detected, suggesting that the reduction in NKT-like cells results from cell death months after recovery. Significant increases in regulatory T cell frequencies and TIM-3 expression on CD4 and CD8 T cells were also observed in CI, while the cytotoxic potential of T cells and NKT-like cells, defined by granzyme B (GzmB) expression, was significantly diminished. However, both CD4 and CD8 T cells of CI showed increased Ki67 expression and were fully able to proliferate and produce effector cytokines upon T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. Collectively, we provide a comprehensive characterization of immune signatures in patients recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that the cellular immune system of COVID-19 patients is still under a sustained influence even months after the recovery from disease. |
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| MeSH term(s) | Adult ; Apoptosis ; COVID-19/diagnosis ; COVID-19/immunology ; Cohort Studies ; Convalescence ; Cytokines/immunology ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; Female ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear/immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Natural Killer T-Cells/immunology ; Phenotype ; SARS-CoV-2/immunology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets/immunology |
| Chemical Substances | Cytokines |
| Language | English |
| Publishing date | 2021-04-27 |
| Publishing country | United States |
| Document type | Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
| ZDB-ID | 2557172-2 |
| ISSN | 2150-7511 ; 2161-2129 |
| ISSN (online) | 2150-7511 |
| ISSN | 2161-2129 |
| DOI | 10.1128/mBio.00085-21 |
| Database | MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE |
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