Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia.
Global Station for Zoonosis Control, Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Nat Commun. 2022 May 19;13(1):2774. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30088-y.
Respiratory tract infection with SARS-CoV-2 results in varying immunopathology underlying COVID-19. We examine cellular, humoral and cytokine responses covering 382 immune components in longitudinal blood and respiratory samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients. SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM, IgG, IgA are detected in respiratory tract and blood, however, receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific IgM and IgG seroconversion is enhanced in respiratory specimens. SARS-CoV-2 neutralization activity in respiratory samples correlates with RBD-specific IgM and IgG levels. Cytokines/chemokines vary between respiratory samples and plasma, indicating that inflammation should be assessed in respiratory specimens to understand immunopathology. IFN-α2 and IL-12p70 in endotracheal aspirate and neutralization in sputum negatively correlate with duration of hospital stay. Diverse immune subsets are detected in respiratory samples, dominated by neutrophils. Importantly, dexamethasone treatment does not affect humoral responses in blood of COVID-19 patients. Our study unveils differential immune responses between respiratory samples and blood, and shows how drug therapy affects immune responses during COVID-19.
呼吸道感染 SARS-CoV-2 会导致 COVID-19 的免疫病理学变化。我们检查了住院 COVID-19 患者的纵向血液和呼吸道样本中的细胞、体液和细胞因子反应，共涵盖 382 个免疫成分。在呼吸道和血液中检测到 SARS-CoV-2 特异性 IgM、IgG、IgA，但在呼吸道标本中增强了受体结合域（RBD）特异性 IgM 和 IgG 血清转化。呼吸道样本中的 SARS-CoV-2 中和活性与 RBD 特异性 IgM 和 IgG 水平相关。细胞因子/趋化因子在呼吸道样本和血浆之间存在差异，表明应在呼吸道样本中评估炎症以了解免疫病理学。气管内吸出物中的 IFN-α2 和 IL-12p70 以及痰液中的中和作用与住院时间呈负相关。在呼吸道样本中检测到多种免疫亚群，以中性粒细胞为主。重要的是，地塞米松治疗不会影响 COVID-19 患者血液中的体液反应。我们的研究揭示了呼吸道样本和血液之间的不同免疫反应，并显示了药物治疗如何影响 COVID-19 期间的免疫反应。
