| Title: |
Circulating Adaptive Immune Cells Expressing the Gut Homing Marker α4β7 Integrin Are Decreased in COVID-19 |
| Authors: |
Tanja M. Müller, Emily Becker, Maximilian Wiendl, Lisa Lou Schulze, Caroline Voskens, Simon Völkl, Andreas E. Kremer, Markus F. Neurath, Sebastian Zundler |
| Source: |
Frontiers in Immunology, Vol 12 (2021) |
| Publisher Information: |
Frontiers Media S.A., 2021. |
| Publication Year: |
2021 |
| Collection: |
LCC:Immunologic diseases. Allergy |
| Subject Terms: |
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 infection, T cell trafficking, integrins, gut homing, Immunologic diseases. Allergy, RC581-607 |
| More Details: |
BackgroundInfection with the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a wide range of symptoms including gastrointestinal manifestations, and intestinal epithelial cells are a target of the virus. However, it is unknown how the intestinal immune system contributes to systemic immune responses in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsWe characterized peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with active COVID-19 and convalescent patients as well as healthy controls by flow cytometry.ResultsThe frequency and absolute number of circulating memory T and B cells expressing the gut homing integrin α4β7 integrin was reduced during COVID-19, whether gastrointestinal symptoms were present or not. While total IgA-expressing B cells were increased, gut-imprinted B cells with IgA expression were stable.ConclusionCOVID-19 is associated with a decrease in circulating adaptive immune cells expressing the key gut homing marker α4β7 suggesting that these cells are preferentially recruited to extra-intestinal tissues independently of α4β7 or that the systemic immune response against SARS-CoV-2 is at least numerically dominated by extraintestinal, particularly pulmonary, immune cell priming. |
| Document Type: |
article |
| File Description: |
electronic resource |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
1664-3224 |
| Relation: |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.639329/full; https://doaj.org/toc/1664-3224 |
| DOI: |
10.3389/fimmu.2021.639329 |
| Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/aa7dc904cbf64fedb1240afb7bb42d87 |
| Accession Number: |
edsdoj.7dc904cbf64fedb1240afb7bb42d87 |
| Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
