Whole blood immunophenotyping uncovers immature neutrophil-to-VD2 T-cell ratio as an early marker for severe COVID-19.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33067472.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-19080-6 and PMC identifier 7568554.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is the novel coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Severe complications are observed only in a small proportion of infected patients but the cellular mechanisms underlying this progression are still unknown. Comprehensive flow cytometry of whole blood samples from 54 COVID-19 patients reveals a dramatic increase in the number of immature neutrophils. This increase strongly correlates with disease severity and is associated with elevated IL-6 and IP-10 levels, two key players in the cytokine storm. The most pronounced decrease in cell counts is observed for CD8 T-cells and VD2 γδ T-cells, which both exhibit increased differentiation and activation. ROC analysis reveals that the count ratio of immature neutrophils to VD2 (or CD8) T-cells predicts pneumonia onset (0.9071) as well as hypoxia onset (0.8908) with high sensitivity and specificity. It would thus be a useful prognostic marker for preventive patient management and improved healthcare resource management.
Medical subject headings
- Betacoronavirus
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes
- Neutrophils
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta