An Inflammatory Profile Correlates With Decreased Frequency of Cytotoxic Cells in Coronavirus Disease 2019
Veronica Bordoni, Alessandra Sacchi, Eleonora Cimini, Stefania Notari, Germana Grassi, Eleonora Tartaglia, Rita Casetti, Maria Letizia Giancola, Nazario Bevilacqua, Markus Maeurer, Alimuddin Zumla, Franco Locatelli, Fabrizio De Benedetti, Fabrizio Palmieri, Luisa Marchioni, Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, Gianpiero D’Offizi, Nicola Petrosillo, Andrea Antinori, Emanuele Nicastri, Giuseppe Ippolito, Chiara Agrati
Abstract
Increased production of inflammatory cytokines and myeloid-derived suppressor cells occurs in patients with coronavirus disease 2019. These inversely correlated with perforin-expressing natural killer (NK) and CD3+ T cells. We observed a lower number of perforin-expressing NK cells in intensive care unit (ICU) patients compared with non-ICU patients, suggesting an impairment of the immune cytotoxic arm as a pathogenic mechanism.