Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Wuhan Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Cancer, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 19;10(1):17718. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73955-8.
COVID-19 has been widely spreading. We aimed to examine adaptive immune cells in non-severe patients with persistent SARS-CoV-2 shedding. 37 non-severe patients with persistent SARS-CoV-2 presence that were transferred to Zhongnan hospital of Wuhan University were retrospectively recruited to the PP (persistently positive) group, which was further allocated to PPP group (n = 19) and PPN group (n = 18), according to their testing results after 7 days (N = negative). Epidemiological, demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. Data from age- and sex-matched non-severe patients at disease onset (PA [positive on admission] patients, n = 37), and lymphocyte subpopulation measurements from matched 54 healthy subjects were extracted for comparison (HC). Compared with PA patients, PP patients had much improved laboratory findings. The absolute numbers of CD3 T cells, CD4 T cells, and NK cells were significantly higher in PP group than that in PA group, and were comparable to that in healthy controls. PPP subgroup had markedly reduced B cells and T cells compared to PPN group and healthy subjects. Finally, paired results of these lymphocyte subpopulations from 10 PPN patients demonstrated that the number of T cells and B cells significantly increased when the SARS-CoV-2 tests turned negative. Persistent SARS-CoV-2 presence in non-severe COVID-19 patients is associated with reduced numbers of adaptive immune cells. Monitoring lymphocyte subpopulations could be clinically meaningful in identifying fully recovered COVID-19 patients.
COVID-19 广泛传播。我们旨在检查持续存在 SARS-CoV-2 脱落的非重症患者中的适应性免疫细胞。回顾性招募了 37 例持续存在 SARS-CoV-2 的非重症患者转移至武汉大学中南医院，将其纳入 PP（持续阳性）组，根据 7 天后的检测结果（N=阴性），将其进一步分为 PPP 组（n=19）和 PPN 组（n=18）。收集和分析了流行病学、人口统计学、临床和实验室数据。从发病时年龄和性别匹配的非重症患者（入院时阳性[PA]患者，n=37）中提取数据，并从匹配的 54 名健康受试者中提取淋巴细胞亚群测量值进行比较（HC）。与 PA 患者相比，PP 患者的实验室检查结果明显改善。PP 组的 CD3 T 细胞、CD4 T 细胞和 NK 细胞绝对数明显高于 PA 组，与健康对照组相当。PPP 亚组的 B 细胞和 T 细胞明显低于 PPN 组和健康受试者。最后，对 10 名 PPN 患者的这些淋巴细胞亚群的配对结果表明，当 SARS-CoV-2 检测转为阴性时，T 细胞和 B 细胞的数量明显增加。非重症 COVID-19 患者持续存在 SARS-CoV-2 与适应性免疫细胞数量减少有关。监测淋巴细胞亚群可能对识别完全康复的 COVID-19 患者具有临床意义。
