Long-term infection of SARS-CoV-2 changed the body's immune status.

Abstract

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2-associated pneumonia, a disease called COVID-19, has caused a pandemic worldwide. To investigate the immune responses after infection of SARS-CoV-2 in non-critical patients may help to better understand the disease progression. We collected 334 confirmed COVID-19 cases including 212 still in hospital with nucleic acid test positive on halfway for SARS-CoV-2 and 122 discharged from hospital, compared specific antibodies, immune cells, and cytokine changes between the hospitalized and discharged patients. The hospitalized patients had a longer illness time compared with discharged patients. Analysis of viral loads explained long-term or persistent infection of SARS-CoV-2, which existed with the median time of 18.5 days of the positive nucleic acid test. Serum analysis showed that the specific anti-N IgG antibody was positive in all detected patients after infection of two weeks. Neutrophils, Monocytes, NK cells, and CD4+ T cells significantly increased, while total lymphocytes and CD8+ T cells decreased from non-critical hospitalized patients after longer-term infection. Further analysis of the cytokines showed that IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 from the hospitalized patients were significantly higher, indicating a potential of the increased CD4+ T cell differentiation.

• Authors: Lan Lin, Shanshan Luo, Renjie Qin, Mengling Yang, Xiaobei Wang, Qianqian Yang, Yang Zhang, Quansheng Wang, Rui Zhu, Heng Fan, Haijun Wang, Yu Hu, Lin Wang, Desheng Hu
• Journal: Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) (Clin Immunol) Vol. 218 Pg. 108524 (09 2020) ISSN: 1521-7035 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 32659373 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Viral
• Cytokines

Topics

• Aged
• Antibodies, Viral (blood)
• Betacoronavirus (immunology, pathogenicity)
• COVID-19
• Cardiovascular Diseases (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• China (epidemiology)
• Comorbidity
• Convalescence
• Coronavirus Infections (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• Cytokines (blood)
• Diabetes Mellitus (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• Female
• Hospitalization
• Humans
• Immunity, Innate
• Killer Cells, Natural (immunology, pathology, virology)
• Lung Diseases (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• Lymphocyte Subsets (immunology, pathology, virology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Monocytes (immunology, pathology, virology)
• Neoplasms (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• Neutrophils (immunology, pathology, virology)
• Pandemics
• Patient Discharge
• Pneumonia, Viral (epidemiology, immunology, pathology, virology)
• SARS-CoV-2
• Time Factors
• Viral Load (immunology)