Age-dependent decrease of circulating T follicular helper cells correlates with disease severity in elderly patients with COVID-19.
Yihan WangQiu WangFurong HeNan QiaoXuejun LiLiqun WeiLingjin SunWeiqian DaiYing LiXueyang PangJiayi HuChuan HuangGuangchen YangChongjie PangZhidong HuMan XingChunxiao WanDongming ZhouPublished in: Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) (2024)
Overwhelming evidence has shown that aging is a significant risk factor for COVID-19-related hospitalizations, death and other adverse health outcomes. Particular T cell subsets that susceptible to aging and associated with COVID-19 disease severity requires further elucidation. Our study recruited 57 elderly patients with acute COVID-19 and 27 convalescent donors. Adaptive immunity was assessed across the COVID-19 severity spectrum. Patients underwent age-dependent CD4 + T lymphopenia, preferential loss of circulating T follicular regulatory cells (cTfh) subsets including cTfh-em, cTfh-cm, cTfh1, cTfh2, cTfh17 and circulating T follicular regulatory cells (cTfr), which regulated antibody production through different pathways and correlated with COVID-19 severity, were observed. Moreover, vaccination improved cTfh-cm, cTfh2, cTfr proportion and promoted NAb production. In conclusion, the elderly had gone through age-dependent cTfh subsets deficiency, which impeded NAb production and enabled aggravation of COVID-19 to critical illness, whereas SARS-CoV-2 vaccine inoculation helped to rejuvenate cTfh, cTfr and intensify NAb responses.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- coronavirus disease
- induced apoptosis
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- cell cycle arrest
- transcription factor
- peripheral blood
- advanced non small cell lung cancer
- oxidative stress
- cell death
- emergency department
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- newly diagnosed
- ejection fraction
- cell proliferation
- chronic kidney disease
- tyrosine kinase
- kidney transplantation
- pi k akt