Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (Jun 2023)

Identification of natural killer markers associated with fatal outcome in COVID-19 patients

  • Nadine Tarantino,
  • Elena Litvinova,
  • Elena Litvinova,
  • Assia Samri,
  • Cathia Soulié,
  • Véronique Morin,
  • Alice Rousseau,
  • Karim Dorgham,
  • Christophe Parizot,
  • Olivia Bonduelle,
  • Alexandra Beurton,
  • Alexandra Beurton,
  • Makoto Miyara,
  • Makoto Miyara,
  • Pascale Ghillani,
  • Julien Mayaux,
  • Raphael Lhote,
  • Jean-Marc Lacorte,
  • Jean-Marc Lacorte,
  • Anne-Geneviève Marcelin,
  • Zahir Amoura,
  • Zahir Amoura,
  • Charles-Edouard Luyt,
  • Charles-Edouard Luyt,
  • Guy Gorochov,
  • Guy Gorochov,
  • Amélie Guihot,
  • Amélie Guihot,
  • Vincent Vieillard

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1165756
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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IntroductionIncreasing evidence has shown that coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) severity is driven by a dysregulated immunological response. Previous studies have demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cell dysfunction underpins severe illness in COVID-19 patients, but have lacked an in-depth analysis of NK cell markers as a driver of death in the most critically ill patients.MethodsWe enrolled 50 non-vaccinated hospitalized patients infected with the initial virus or the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2 with moderate or severe illness, to evaluate phenotypic and functional features of NK cells.ResultsHere, we show that, consistent with previous studies, evolution NK cells from COVID-19 patients are more activated, with the decreased activation of natural cytotoxicity receptors and impaired cytotoxicity and IFN-γ production, in association with disease regardless of the SARS-CoV-2 strain. Fatality was observed in 6 of 17 patients with severe disease; NK cells from all of these patients displayed a peculiar phenotype of an activated memory-like phenotype associated with massive TNF-α production.DiscussionThese data suggest that fatal COVID-19 infection is driven by an uncoordinated inflammatory response in part mediated by a specific subset of activated NK cells.

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