Effect of Age on Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Journal of Clinical Medicine

Mads Kjolby¹  Jesper Damsgaard Gunst²  Kristoffer Grønhøj²  Ole S. Søgaard²  Marie Høst Pahus²  Hien Ngo²  Ida Monrad²  Martin Tolstrup²  Rikke Olesen²  Lamin B. Cham² 

[1]Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 8200 Aarhus, Denmark

[2]Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus, Denmark

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    age;    monocytes;    DCs;    NK cells;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jcm10204798

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

An effective but balanced cellular and inflammatory immune response may limit the severity of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), whereas uncontrolled inflammation leads to disease progression. Older age is associated with higher risk of COVID-19 and a worse outcome, but the underlying immunological mechanisms for this age-related difference are not clear. We investigated the impact of age on viral replication, inflammation, and innate and adaptive cellular immune responses in 205 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. During the early symptomatic phase of COVID-19, we found that patients above 65 years had significantly higher viral load, higher levels of proinflammatory markers, and inadequate mobilization and activation of monocytes, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and CD8 T cells compared to those below 65 years. Our study points toward age-related deficiencies in the innate immune cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 as a potential cause of poorly controlled viral replication and inflammation during the early symptom phase and subsequent disease progression.

【 授权许可】

Unknown