Neutrophil Maturation, Reactivity and Granularity Research Parameters to Characterize and Differentiate Convalescent Patients from Active SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Iwona Kwiecień,
Elżbieta Rutkowska,
Katarzyna Kulik,
Krzysztof Kłos,
Katarzyna Plewka,
Agata Raniszewska,
Piotr Rzepecki,
Andrzej Chciałowski
Affiliations
Iwona Kwiecień
Laboratory of Hematology and Flow Cytometry, Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Elżbieta Rutkowska
Laboratory of Hematology and Flow Cytometry, Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Kulik
Laboratory of Hematology and Flow Cytometry, Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Krzysztof Kłos
Department of Infectious Diseases and Allergology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Plewka
Department of Infectious Diseases and Allergology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Agata Raniszewska
Laboratory of Hematology and Flow Cytometry, Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Piotr Rzepecki
Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Andrzej Chciałowski
Department of Infectious Diseases and Allergology, Military Institute of Medicine, Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Studying the dynamics changes of neutrophils during innate immune response in coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) can help understand the pathogenesis of this disease. The aim of the study was to assess the usefulness of new neutrophil activation parameters: Immature Granulocyte (IG), Neutrophil Reactivity Intensity (NEUT-RI), Neutrophil Granularity Intensity (NEUT-GI), and data relating to granularity, activity, and neutrophil volume (NE-WX, NE-WY, NE-WZ) available in hematology analyzers to distinguish convalescent patients from patients with active SARS-CoV-2 infection and healthy controls (HC). The study group consisted of 79 patients with a confirmed positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV2 infection, 71 convalescent patients, and 20 HC. We observed leukopenia with neutrophilia in patients with active infection compared to convalescents and HC. The IG median absolute count was higher in convalescent patients than in COVID-19 and HC (respectively, 0.08 vs. 0.03 vs. 0.02, p p < 0.0001). We observed the highest proportion of NE-WX, NE-WY, and NE-WZ parameters in HC, without differences between the COVID-19 and convalescent groups. New neutrophil parameters can be useful tools to assess neutrophils’ activity and functionalities in the immune response during infection and recovery from COVID-19 disease.