Immunological Biomarkers among patients with Severe COVID-19

Abstract

Background: SARS-COV 2 is characterized by a heterogenous disease course in which some cases may be asymptomatic, mild, and severe which is life-threatening. Most hospitalized patients with COVID-19 have been found to have many immunological complications, such as macrophage activation syndrome resulting in cytokine storm syndrome and acute respiratory distress syndrome. SARS-CoV-2 causes a variety of clinical presentations in COVID-19 individuals, including asymptomatic infection, moderate illness symptoms, respiratory failure, and multiorgan failure, among others. However, it is not clear which biomarkers and immune responses are elicited in the different disease states. Objective: The main objective was to determine the biomarkers involved in the immune response of COVID-19 that indicate the severity of the disease. Methods: In order to address this, we carried out a cross-sectional study. We performed Luminex assay on for the cytokines IL-6, IL-10, IL-1 beta, IL-8, and TNF alpha at the Immunology laboratory in Mulago Hospital. We ran flowcytometry for CD3, CD4, CD45Ra, CCR7, CD38, HLA-DR, TIM-3, PD-1 and Zombie aqua. The data was then analyzed using a one-way ANOVA test in Graph pad prism version 9.5.0. Results: We found low levels of cytokines in the patients with severe disease. There was no statistically significant difference in the cytokine concentration between the different disease severity except for IL-6 p value = 0.0196. There was little immune activation and more exhaustion in patients with severe disease. There was no statistically significant difference in the various T cell responses among the different disease statuses Conclusion: This study shows an apparent association of IL-6 concentration with SARS-CoV-2 disease severity.