TREC/KREC Levels in Young COVID-19 Patients
Maryam B. Khadzhieva, Ekaterina V. Kalinina, Sergey S. Larin, Д. А. Свиридова, А. С. Грачева, Julia Chursinova, Vadim Stepanov, Ivan V. Redkin, Lyudmila S. Avdeikina, A. G. Rumyantsev, А. Н. Кузовлев, Lyubov E. Salnikova
Abstract
COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have an immune imbalance when systemic inflammation and dysfunction of circulating T and B cells lead to a more severe disease. Using TREC/KREC analysis, we studied the level of mature naive T and B cells in peripheral blood of COVID-19 patients and its relationship with clinical and laboratory data. TREC/KREC analysis was performed by multiplex real-time quantitative PCR on a sample of 36 patients aged 45 years or younger. The reduced TREC/KREC level was observed in ARDS patients compared with non-ARDS patients, and similar results were found for the deceased patients. During days 6 to 20 of hospitalization, a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was detected in ARDS patients compared with non-ARDS patients. TREC/KREC negatively correlated with NLR; the highest correlation was recorded for TREC per 100,000 cells with the coefficient of determination R2 = 0.527. Thus, TREC/KREC analysis is a potential prognostic marker for assessing the severity and outcome in COVID-19.