Alterations of Blood Immune Cells in Elderly Patients with COVID-19 and with or without Pre-Existing Type 2 Diabetes — Oak Academic Publishing
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Alterations of Blood Immune Cells in Elderly Patients with COVID-19 and with or without Pre-Existing Type 2 Diabetes
Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
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Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
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Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
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Instituto de Maternidad “Ntra. Sra. De las Mercedes”, Tucuman, Argentina
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Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
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Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
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Livestock Immunology Unit, International Education and Research Center for Food and Agricultural Immunology (CFAI), Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
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Food and Feed Immunology Group, Laboratory of Animal Food Function, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
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Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
1 Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
2 Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
3 Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
4 Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
5 Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
6 Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
7 Instituto de Maternidad “Ntra. Sra. De las Mercedes”, Tucuman, Argentina
8 Hospital Centro de Salud “Zenon Santillan”, Tucuman, Argentina
9 Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
10 Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
11 Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, Reference Centre for Lactobacilli (CERELA-CONICET), Tucuman, Argentina
12 Livestock Immunology Unit, International Education and Research Center for Food and Agricultural Immunology (CFAI), Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
13 Food and Feed Immunology Group, Laboratory of Animal Food Function, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
14 Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, National University of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina
Elderly individuals, especially those with pre-existing conditions like type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), have a high risk for developing severe cases of COVID-19. The aim of this work was to characterize the alterations of blood immune cells (BIC) in patients with symptomatic COVID-19 and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, ≥60 years and who needed hospitalization in the Centro de Salud Hospital of Tucuman, Argentina, during the second peak of the pandemic in Argentina. Ten patients were enrolled from December 2020 to May 2021. Blood samples were taken at the time of admission (day 0) and five days after (day 5) for routine laboratory tests and the characterization of BIC by flow cytometry. Most of the patients were men (70%) aged between 60 and 78 years. The 70% of patients had T2DM while 50% had arterial hypertension. At day 0, all the patients had increased neutrophils and inflammatory markers (C reactive protein and D-dimers) and reduced numbers of lymphocytes, HLA-DR hi monocytes, CD16 + CD56 + NK cells, CD3 + HLA − DR + CD25 + cells, CD4 + and CD8 + T cells in blood. Patients received a standard treatment for COVID-19 care (O 2 , corticosteroids and antibiotics). The hospital treatment normalized the levels of BIC (day 5) in 30% of patients who were those with no comorbidities. In patients with T2DM, BIC recovery was variable. In T2DM patients who required administration of plasma (30%), prolonged O 2 therapy (40%) or referral to the intensive care unit (10%) significant reductions of CD16 + CD56 + , CD3 + HLA − DR + CD25 + , CD4 + and CD8 + cells were observed between days 0 and 5. In line with previous studies, our results show that absolute counts of major lymphocyte subsets in blood are significantly and substantially decreased during the course of severe COVID-19 disease in elderly patients. These BIC alterations may persist despite clinical care in elderly patients with T2DM. Further studies are needed to investigate the utility of early lymphocyte subset measurements as prognostic biomarkers of disease severity, mortality, and response to treatment in COVID-19 elderly patients with T2DM.
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