Complement activation induces excessive T cell cytotoxicity in severe COVID-19
Philipp Georg, Rosario Astaburuaga-García, Lorenzo Bonaguro, Sophia Brumhard, Laura Michalick, Lena J. Lippert, Tomislav Kostevc, Christiane Gäbel, Maria Schneider, Mathias Streitz, Vadim Demichev, Ioanna D. Gemünd, Matthias Barone, Pinkus Tober‐Lau, Elisa T. Helbig, David Hillus, L. A. Petrov, Julia Stein, Hannah-Philine Dey, Daniela Paclik, Christina Iwert, Michael Mülleder, Simran Kaur Aulakh, Sonja Djudjaj, Roman D. Bülow, Henrik E. Mei, Axel Schulz, Andreas Thiel, Stefan Hippenstiel, Antoine‐Emmanuel Saliba, Roland Eils, Irina Lehmann, Marcus Mall, Sebastian Stricker, Jobst Röhmel, Victor M. Corman, Dieter Beule, Emanuel Wyler, Markus Landthaler, Benedikt Obermayer, Saskia von Stillfried, Peter Boor, Münevver Demir, Hans Wesselmann, Norbert Suttorp, Alexander Uhrig, Holger Müller-Redetzky, Jacob Nattermann, Wolfgang M. Kuebler, Christian Meisel, Markus Ralser, Joachim L. Schultze, Anna C. Aschenbrenner, Charlotte Thibeault, Florian Kurth, Leif Erik Sander, Nils Blüthgen, Birgit Sawitzki
Abstract
T cells and plasma levels of complement proteins upstream of C3a were associated with fatal outcome of COVID-19, supporting a pathological role of exacerbated cytotoxicity and complement activation in COVID-19.