IL-6 drives T cell death to participate in lymphopenia in COVID-19.

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 cel

SUBMITTER: Zhou X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9359506 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature