Study suggests persistent immune activation and long COVID correlate independently with severe COVID-19 medrxivpreprint BristolUni Brms_Research COVID19 coronavirus covid longcovid immunesystem
By Dr. Chinta SidharthanNov 30 2022Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc. In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers investigated whether severe coronavirus disease 2019 patients exhibited inflammation and immune activation three months after hospitalization and explored the associations among COVID-19 severity, long COVID, and immune activation.
Evidence from longitudinal studies suggests that pro-inflammatory cytokines, activated T-cells, inflammation, and abnormal immune responses persist in severe COVID-19 patients for eight months to a year. To detect persistent immune activation at three months post-hospitalization, flow cytometry was used to assess the proliferation and phenotypes of natural killer cells, B cells, monocytes, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and T cells expressing gamma delta T cell receptors . NK and T cells were further analyzed for activation, proliferation, differentiation, and cytotoxicity markers, including cluster of differentiation 38, CD69, chemokine receptor 7 , and C-X-C Motif Chemokine Receptor , among others.
Results The results reported persistent CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation in severe COVID-19 patients. Compared to patients with mild or moderate disease, severe COVID-19 patients also exhibited elevated levels of TNF-α, IL-7, IL-4, and IL-17 in their plasma. This indicated ongoing T cell activation since plasma cytokine levels at three months were similar to those during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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