Downregulated Gene Expression Spectrum and Immune Responses Changed During the Disease Progression in Patients With COVID-19
Open Access
- 20 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 71 (16), 2052-2060
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa462
Abstract
WHO characterizes novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a pandemic. Here, we investigated the clinical, cytokine levels, T cell proportion and related gene expression occurring in COVID-19 patients on admission and after intial treatment. 11 patients diagnosed as COVID-19 with similar initial treatment regimen were enrolled in the hospital. Plasma cytokines, CyTOF and microfluidic qPCR for gene expression were conducted. 5 mild and 6 severe patients were included. Cough and fever were the top symptoms in the 11 COVID-2019 cases. The elder age, more neutrophils numbers and higher C-reactive protein level were found in severe cases. IL-10 level was significantly varied with disease progression and treatment. The decreased T cell proportions were observed in COVID-19 patients especially in severe cases, and all elevated to normal in mild patiens after initial treatment but only CD4+T cells return to normal in severe cases. The number of DEGs increased with the disease progress, and decreased after initial treatment. All down-regulated DEGs in severe cases mainly involved in Th17 cell differentiation, cytokine-mediated signaling pathway and T cell activation. After initial treatmen in severe cases, MAP2K7 and SOS1 were upregulated relative to that on admission. Our findings show a decreased T cell proportion with down-regulated gene expression related to T cell activation and differentiation were occurred in COVID-19 severe patients, which may help to provide effective treatment strategies for COVID-19 .Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81672026, 81601796)
- COVID-19 Key Technology Research and Development Funding of Beijing Hospital Authority
- National Science and Technology Major Special Program (2018ZX10302205)
- Capital Health Research and Development of Special (2018-1-1151)
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