Healthy and controlled immune response in COVID-19 is crucial for mild forms of the disease. Although CD8+ T cells play important role in this response, there is still a lack of studies showing the gene expression profiles in those cells at the beginning of the disease as potential predictors of more severe forms after the first week. We investigated a proportion of different subpopulations of CD8+ T cells and their gene expression patterns for cytotoxic proteins (perforin-1 (PRF1), granulysin (GNLY), granzyme B (GZMB), granzyme A (GZMA), granzyme K (GZMK)), cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and apoptotic protein Fas ligand (FASL) in CD8+ T cells from peripheral blood in first weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sixteen COVID-19 patients and nine healthy controls were included. The absolute counts of total lymphocytes ( p = 0.007), CD3+ ( p = 0.05), and CD8+ T cells ( p = 0.01) in COVID-19 patients were significantly decreased compared to healthy controls. In COVID-19 patients in CD8+ T cell compartment, we observed lower frequency effector memory 1 (EM1) ( p = 0.06) and effector memory 4 (EM4) ( p < 0.001) CD8+ T cells. Higher mRNA expression of PRF1 ( p = 0.05) and lower mRNA expression of FASL ( p = 0.05) at the fifth day of the disease were found in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls. mRNA expression of PRF1 ( p < 0.001) and IFN-γ ( p < 0.001) was significantly downregulated in the first week of disease in COVID-19 patients who progressed to moderate and severe forms after the first week, compared to patients with mild symptoms during the entire disease course. GZMK ( p < 0.01) and FASL ( p < 0.01) mRNA expression was downregulated in all COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls. Our results can lead to a better understanding of the inappropriate immune response of CD8+ T cells in SARS-CoV2 with the faster progression of the disease.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, CD8, IFN-γ, FASL, granzymes, perforin, effector memory, granulysin, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV2, immune response, SARS-COV-2 infection, CD8+ T cells, cytokine, progression, Peripheral blood, Protein, lymphocyte, Patient, Mild, GzmA, GzmB, predictor, disease, moderate, CD8+ T cell, IFN-γ, Ligand, Frequency, granzyme B, COVID-19 patient, interferon-γ, Mild symptom, healthy control, disease course, healthy controls, gene expression profile, mRNA expression, subpopulation, CD3+, GNLY, PRF1, apoptotic, Cell, lack, significantly, proportion, investigated, the disease, form, nine, faster, downregulated, gene expression pattern, GZMK, progressed, 【제목키워드】 response, CD8+,