Mucosal-Associated Invariant T (MAIT) Cells Are Highly Activated and Functionally Impaired in COVID-19 Patients

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 09/18/2021 - 14:16

paper: Deschler, S., Kager, J., Erber, J., Fricke, L., Koyumdzhieva, P., Georgieva, A., Lahmer, T., Wiessner, J. R., Voit, F., Schneider, J., Horstmann, J., Iakoubov, R., Treiber, M., Winter, C., Ruland, J., Busch, D. H., Knolle, P. A., Protzer, U., Spinner, C. D., Schmid, R. M., Quante, M. and Böttcher, K. (2021). Mucosal-Associated Invariant T (MAIT) Cells Are Highly Activated and Functionally Impaired in COVID-19 Patients. Viruses https://doi.org/10.3390/v13020241
contributor: Katrin Böttcher
contributor_organization: Technical University of Munich
contributor_email: katrin.boettcher@mri.tum.de

- description: Alterations in immune cell populations in patients with mild and severe COVID-19 in comparison to healthy controls
- exact_source: Figure 1 and 2
- tissue: PBMC
- immune_exposure: COVID-19 infection
- cohort: adults
- comparison: severe and mild infection vs. healthy controls
- repository_id:
- platform:
- response_components:
- response_behavior: up and down
  - - description: expression of activation markers and cytokines by MAIT cell ex vivo
    - exact_source: Figure 3, Supplemental Figure 3
    - tissue: PBMC
    - immune_exposure: COVID-19 infection
    - cohort: adults
    - comparison: severe and mild infection vs. healthy controls, acute infection vs. convalescence
    - repository_id:
    - platform:
    - response_components:
    - response_behavior: up
      - description: cytokine expression of MAIT cells in COVID-19 patients following stimulation
        
        exact_source: Figure 4, Supplemental Figure 4
        
        tissue: PBMC
        
        immune_exposure: COVID-19 infection
        
        cohort: adults
        
        comparison: severe and mild infection vs. healthy controls, acute infection vs. convalescence
        
        repository_id:
        
        platform:
        
        response_components:
        
        response_behavior: down

PMID

33546489

authors

Deschler, Sebastian et al

abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), comprises mild courses of disease as well as progression to severe disease, characterised by lung and other organ failure. The immune system is considered to play a crucial role for the pathogenesis of COVID-19, although especially the contribution of innate-like T cells remains poorly understood. Here, we analysed the phenotype and function of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, innate-like T cells with potent antimicrobial effector function, in patients with mild and severe COVID-19 by multicolour flow cytometry. Our data indicate that MAIT cells are highly activated in patients with COVID-19, irrespective of the course of disease, and express high levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-17A and TNFα ex vivo. Of note, expression of the activation marker HLA-DR positively correlated with SAPS II score, a measure of disease severity. Upon MAIT cell-specific in vitro stimulation, MAIT cells however failed to upregulate expression of the cytokines IL-17A and TNFα, as well as cytolytic proteins, that is, granzyme B and perforin. Thus, our data point towards an altered cytokine expression profile alongside an impaired antibacterial and antiviral function of MAIT cells in COVID-19 and thereby contribute to the understanding of COVID-19 immunopathogenesis.

status

review complete

curator

Jane Wang

reviewer

Aris Floratos

journal

Viruses

date curation completed

Tue, 02/01/2022 - 12:00

date review completed

Mon, 04/24/2023 - 12:00