Abstract
Lymphopenia is a common observation in patients with COVID-19. To explore the cause of T cell lymphopenia in the disease, laboratory results of 64 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were retrospectively analyzed and six patients were randomly selected to trace their changes of T lymphocytes and plasma concentration of IL-6 for the course of disease. Results confirmed that the T-cell lymphopenia, especially CD4+ T cell reduction in COVID-19 patients, was a reliable indicator of severity and hospitalization in infected patients. And CD4+ T cell count below 200 cells/μL predicts critical illness in COVID-19 patients. In vitro assay supported that exposure to key contributors (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ) of COVID-19 cytokine storm caused substantial death of activated T cells. Among these contributors, IL-6 level was found to probably reversely correlate with T cell counts in patients. And IL-6 alone was potent to induce T cell reduction by gasderminE-mediated pyroptosis, inferring IL-6 took a part in affecting the function and status of T cells in COVID-19 patients. Intervention of IL-6 mediated T cell pryprotosis may effectively delay disease progression, maintain normal immune status at an early stage of infection.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, IL-6, lymphopenia, ICU care, 【초록키워드】 Hospitalization, severity, Infection, Disease progression, T cell, Patient, pyroptosis, death, T-cell, disease, change, Critical, early stage, patients, predict, CD4+ T cell, COVID-19 patients, IFN-γ, TNF-α, hospitalized COVID-19 patient, Immune status, IL-1β, observation, reduction, plasma concentration, COVID-19 cytokine storm, infected patients, T lymphocyte, activated T cells, T cell lymphopenia, Randomly, Course, Result, selected, analyzed, caused, the disease, supported, maintain, induce, reduction in, affecting, laboratory result, patients with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 T cell, death,