Lymphopenia-induced T cell proliferation is a hallmark of severe COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has a broad clinical presentation ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal disease. Different features associated with the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, such as hyperinfla...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2020-08
Main Authors: Adamo, Sarah, Chevrier, Stéphane, Cervia, Carlo, Zurbuchen, Yves, Räber, Miro E, Yang, Liliane, Sivapatham, Sujana, Jacobs, Andrea, Bächli, Esther, Rudiger, Alain, Stüssi-Helbling, Melina, Huber, Lars C, Schaer, Dominik, Bodenmiller, Bernd, Boyman, Onur, Nilsson, Jakob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apoptosis
Asymptomatic infection
CD8 antigen
Cell growth
Cell migration
Cell proliferation
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Inflammation
Interleukin 7
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes T
Lymphopenia
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has a broad clinical presentation ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal disease. Different features associated with the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, such as hyperinflammation and reduction of peripheral CD8+ T cell counts are strongly associated with severe disease. Here, we confirm the reduction in peripheral CD8+ T cells both in relative and absolute terms and identify T cell apoptosis and migration into inflamed tissues as possible mechanisms driving peripheral T cell lymphopenia. Furthermore, we find evidence of elevated serum interleukin-7, thus indicating systemic T cell paucity and signs of increased T cell proliferation in patients with severe lymphopenia. Following T cell lymphopenia in our pseudo-longitudinal time course, we observed expansion and recovery of poly-specific antiviral T cells, thus arguing for lymphopenia-induced T cell proliferation. In summary, this study suggests that extensive T cell loss and subsequent T cell proliferation are characteristic of severe COVID-19. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
DOI:10.1101/2020.08.04.236521