Scientific Reports (Jul 2021)

Lower peripheral blood Toll-like receptor 3 expression is associated with an unfavorable outcome in severe COVID-19 patients

  • Maria Clara Saad Menezes,
  • Alicia Dudy Müller Veiga,
  • Thais Martins de Lima,
  • Suely Kunimi Kubo Ariga,
  • Hermes Vieira Barbeiro,
  • Claudia de Lucena Moreira,
  • Agnes Araujo Sardinha Pinto,
  • Rodrigo Antonio Brandao,
  • Julio Flavio Marchini,
  • Julio Cesar Alencar,
  • Lucas Oliveira Marino,
  • Luz Marina Gomez,
  • Niels Olsen Saraiva Camara,
  • Heraldo P. Souza

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94624-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract The role of innate immunity in COVID-19 is not completely understood. Therefore, this study explored the impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on the expression of Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) in peripheral blood cells and their correlated cytokines. Seventy-nine patients with severe COVID-19 on admission, according to World Health Organization (WHO) classification, were divided into two groups: patients who needed mechanical ventilation and/or deceased (SEVERE, n = 50) and patients who used supplementary oxygen but not mechanical ventilation and survived (MILD, n = 29); a control group (CONTROL, n = 17) was also enrolled. In the peripheral blood, gene expression (mRNA) of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, retinoic-acid inducible gene I (RIGI), NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), interferon alpha (IFN-α), interferon beta (IFN-β), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interferon lambda (IFN-λ), pro-interleukin(IL)-1β (pro-IL-1β), and IL-18 was determined on admission, between 5–9 days, and between 10–15 days. Circulating cytokines in plasma were also measured. When compared to the COVID-19 MILD group, the COVID-19 SEVERE group had lower expression of TLR3 and overexpression of TLR4.