The high infection rate and rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) make it a world-wide pandemic. Individuals infected by the virus exhibited different degrees of symptoms, and most convalescent individuals have been shown to develop both cellular and humoral immune responses. However, virus-specific adaptive immune responses in severe patients during acute phase have not been thoroughly studied. Here, we found that in a group of COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during hospitalization, most of them mounted SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses, including neutralizing antibodies. However, compared to healthy controls, the percentages and absolute numbers of both NK cells and CD8 + T cells were significantly reduced, with decreased IFNγ expression in CD4 + T cells in peripheral blood from severe patients. Most notably, their peripheral blood lymphocytes failed in producing IFNγ against viral proteins. Thus, severe COVID-19 patients at acute infection stage developed SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses but were impaired in cellular immunity, which emphasizes on the role of cellular immunity in COVID-19.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Adaptive immunity, acute respiratory distress syndrome, T cells, Neutralization antibody, interferon gamma, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, ARDS, coronavirus, pandemic, Hospitalization, Neutralizing antibodies, antibody, Antibody Response, NK cell, Viral proteins, virus, CD4, CD8, Symptoms, Peripheral blood, Spread, T cell, cellular immunity, acute infection, Severe patient, infection rate, Adaptive immune response, humoral immune responses, expression, acute respiratory distress, cellular, COVID-19 patient, acute respiratory syndrome, severe patients, acute phase, individual, IFNγ, syndrome, healthy controls, MOST, responses, convalescent individual, shown, develop, significantly, reduced, exhibited, producing, mounted, percentage, peripheral blood lymphocyte, severe COVID-19 patient, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Impaired,