Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) often causes persistent symptoms long after infection, referred to as “long COVID” or post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS). This phenomenon has been studied primarily concerning B-cell immunity, while the involvement of T-cell immunity is still unclear. This retrospective study aimed to examine the relationship among the number of symptoms, cytokine levels, and the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) assay data in patients with COVID-19. To examine inflammatory conditions, plasma interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-18, chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9), chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels were analyzed using plasma obtained from COVID-19 recovery patients and healthy controls (HC). These levels were significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than those in the HC group. ELISPOT assays were performed to investigate the correlation between COVID-19 persistent symptoms and T-cell immunity. Cluster analysis of ELISPOT categorized COVID-19 recovery patients in the ELISPOT-high and -low groups, based on the values of S1, S2, and N. The number of persistent symptoms was significantly higher in the ELISPOT-low group than those in the ELISPOT-high group. Thus, T cell immunity is critical for the rapid elimination of COVID-19 persistent symptoms, and its measurement immediately after COVID-19 recovery might predict long-term COVID-19 or PACS.

Details

Title
Cellular immunity reflects the persistent symptoms among COVID-19 recovered patients in Japan
Author
Miyata, Yoshiharu 1 ; Suzuki, Kohjin 2 ; Nagano, Tatsuya 3 ; Iida, Keiji 4 ; Hasegawa, Takehiro 5 ; Uga, Hitoshi 6 ; Matsuoka, Hiroshi 1 

 Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Division of Bioresource Research and Development, Department of Social/Community Medicine and Health Science, Kobe, Japan (GRID:grid.31432.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 1092 3077) 
 Sysmex Corporation, System Technologies Laboratory, Kobe, Japan (GRID:grid.419812.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 1777 4627) 
 Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe, Japan (GRID:grid.31432.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 1092 3077) 
 Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Medical Center, Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Kakogawa, Japan (GRID:grid.31432.37) 
 Sysmex R&D Centre Europe GmbH, Research and Development Division, Hamburg, Germany (GRID:grid.31432.37) 
 Sysmex Corporation, Central Research Laboratories, Kobe, Japan (GRID:grid.419812.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 1777 4627) 
Pages
11071
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2834541800
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.