Age-severity matched cytokine profiling reveals specific signatures in Covid-19 patients

Cell Death Dis. 2020 Nov 6;11(11):957. doi: 10.1038/s41419-020-03151-z.

Abstract

A global effort is currently undertaken to restrain the COVID-19 pandemic. Host immunity has come out as a determinant for COVID-19 clinical outcomes, and several studies investigated the immune profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infected people to properly direct the clinical management of the disease. Thus, lymphopenia, T-cell exhaustion, and the increased levels of inflammatory mediators have been described in COVID-19 patients, in particular in severe cases1. Age represents a key factor in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality2. Understanding age-associated immune signatures of patients are therefore important to identify preventive and therapeutic strategies. In this study, we investigated the immune profile of COVID-19 hospitalized patients identifying a distinctive age-dependent immune signature associated with disease severity. Indeed, defined circulating factors - CXCL8, IL-10, IL-15, IL-27, and TNF-α - positively correlate with older age, longer hospitalization, and a more severe form of the disease and may thus represent the leading signature in critical COVID-19 patients.

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood
  • Betacoronavirus / immunology
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Coronavirus Infections / immunology
  • Coronavirus Infections / pathology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Cytokines / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Interleukin-10 / metabolism
  • Interleukin-8 / metabolism
  • Length of Stay
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / cytology
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / metabolism
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / immunology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / pathology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / metabolism

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Cytokines
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Interleukin-8
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
  • Interleukin-10