Dysregulation of Immune Response in Patients With Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China
Chuan Qin, Luoqi Zhou, Ziwei Hu, Shuoqi Zhang, Sheng Yang, Yu Tao, MD, Cuihong Xie, Ke Ma, Ke Shang, Wei Wang, Dai-Shi Tian, Dysregulation of Immune Response in Patients With Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, Clinical Infectious Diseases, ciaa248, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa248
This was a retrospective study from Wuhan China to examine the dysregulation of the immune response in severe COVID 19 patients using flow cytometry. Of the 452 consecutive patients, 63% were diagnosed with severe COVID 19 and the median age was 58 years. Fifty-one percent of the severe cases had a clinical history of chronic disease and underlying health issues, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and hypertension.
Interestingly, following laboratory analysis among the 452 patients, most exhibited lymphopenia or low lymphocyte numbers and low numbers of T-cells, specifically CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+, as is with the case in many patients with PANDAS/PANS. T-cells have a vital role in regulating allergic inflammation and when they are found in low numbers, we know they can directly impact and weaken the body’s immune response.
They also measured a higher level of infection-related biomarkers (ferritin, sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, erythrocytes and procalcitonin) and several elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (Interleukin (IL), IL-2R and IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a). It is well established that cytokines and chemokines have an important role to play in immunity during infections and are also associated with brain inflammation.
The study was retrospective and addressed other limitations in the discussion section of the paper. However, they did clearly demonstrate that people with a severe Covid-19 infection experience a dysregulated immune response, reduced lymphocytes number, specifically T Lymphocytes, an infection-related cytokine storm which all generate an aberrant immune response leading to organ damage. This pathogenesis has been observed by scientists and doctors in the AE and PANDAS/PANS community for some time.
Gabriella True
