Quantitative and qualitative alterations of circulating myeloid cells and plasmacytoid DC in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection

• DOI: 10.1111/imm.13254
• Publication Date: 2020-09-01T20:12:36Z
• Authors: Benedetta Peruzzi; Sara Bencini; Manuela Capone; Alessio Mazzoni; Laura Maggi; Lorenzo Salvati; Anna Vanni; Chiara Orazzini; Carlo Nozzoli; Alessandro Morettini; Loredana Poggesi; Filippo Pieralli; Adriano Peris; Alessandro Bartoloni; Alessandro Maria ...; Francesco Liotta; Roberto Caporale; Lorenzo Cosmi; Francesco Annunziato
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Immunology; Sars-CoV-2, myeloid cells, Dendritic cells; COVID-19; Dendritic Cells; Flow Cytometry; 3. Good health; Intensive Care Units; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Immunology and Allergy; Humans; Female; Myeloid Cells; Aged

SummarySARS‐CoV‐2 is responsible for a new infectious disease (COVID‐19) in which individuals can either remain asymptomatic or progress from mild to severe clinical conditions including acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure. The immune mechanisms that potentially orchestrate the pathology in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection are complex and only partially understood. There is still paucity of data on the features of myeloid cells involved in this viral infection. For this reason, we investigated the different activation status profiles and the subset distribution of myeloid cells and their correlation with disease progression in 40 COVID‐19 patients at different stages of disease. COVID‐19 patients showed a decrease in the absolute number of plasmacytoid and myeloid dendritic cells, different subset distribution of monocytes and different activation patterns of both monocytes and neutrophils, coupled to a significant reduction of HLA‐DR monocyte levels. We found that some of these alterations are typical of all COVID‐19 patients, while some others vary at different stages of the disease and correlate with biochemical parameters of inflammation. Collectively, these data suggest that not only the lymphoid, but also the myeloid compartment, is severely affected by SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.