Zahran Asmaa M, Abdel-Rahim Mona H, Nasif Khalid A, Hussein Safinaz, Hafez Rania, Ahmad Ahmad Bahieldeen, Saad Khaled, Elhoufey Amira, Hussein Hosni A M, Thabet Ali A, El-Badawy Omnia
Department of Clinical Pathology, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
Virulence. 2022 Dec;13(1):569-577. doi: 10.1080/21505594.2022.2047506.
We aimed to determine the levels of follicular helper T (Tfh) and follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells in COVID-19 patients and determine whether their levels correlated with disease severity and presence of hyperglycemia. This study was carried out in 34 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 20 healthy controls. Levels of total circulating Tfh, inducible T-cell costimulator (ICOS)+ activated Tfh, and Tfr cells were assessed in all participants by flow cytometry. Total CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh cells and ICOS+Foxp3-activated Tfh cells increased and ICOS+Foxp3+ Tfr cells decreased in COVID-19 patients, especially in diabetic patients and those with severe disease. Activated ICOS+ Tfh cells were directly correlated with lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer, ferritin, and respiratory rate and inversely correlated with the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. COVID-19 is associated with marked activation of Tfh cells and a profound drop in Tfr cells, especially in severe and diabetic patients. Future studies on expanded cohorts of patients are needed to clarify the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and acute-onset diabetes.
我们旨在测定新冠肺炎患者中滤泡辅助性T（Tfh）细胞和滤泡调节性T（Tfr）细胞的水平，并确定其水平是否与疾病严重程度及高血糖的存在相关。本研究纳入了34例住院新冠肺炎患者和20名健康对照者。通过流式细胞术评估了所有参与者循环中总Tfh、诱导性T细胞共刺激分子（ICOS）+活化Tfh及Tfr细胞的水平。新冠肺炎患者中总CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh细胞和ICOS+Foxp3活化Tfh细胞增加，而ICOS+Foxp3+ Tfr细胞减少，尤其是糖尿病患者和重症患者。活化的ICOS+ Tfh细胞与乳酸脱氢酶、D-二聚体、铁蛋白及呼吸频率呈正相关，与二氧化碳分压呈负相关。新冠肺炎与Tfh细胞的显著活化及Tfr细胞的显著减少有关，尤其是在重症和糖尿病患者中。需要对更多患者队列进行进一步研究，以阐明严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）与急性糖尿病之间的关系。
