Cited by 2,074COVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchLong-Term Effects of COVID-19

Longitudinal analyses reveal immunological misfiring in severe COVID-19

Open access
Lucas, Carolina, Wong, Patrick, Klein, Jon, Castro, Tiago B. R., Silva, Julio, Sundaram, Maria, Ellingson, Mallory K., Mao, Tianyang +93 more·2020·Nature

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Recent studies have provided insights into the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)1-4. However, the longitudinal immunological correlates of disease outcome remain unclear. Here we serially analysed immune responses in 113 patients with moderate or severe COVID-19. Immune profiling revealed an overall increase in innate cell lineages, with a concomitant reduction in T cell number. An early elevation in cytokine levels was associated with worse disease outcomes. Following an early increase in cytokines, patients with moderate COVID-19 displayed a progressive reduction in type 1 (antiviral) and type 3 (antifungal) responses. By contrast, patients with severe COVID-19 maintained these elevated responses throughout the course of the disease. Moreover, severe COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in multiple type 2 (anti-helminths) effectors, including interleukin-5 (IL-5), IL-13, immunoglobulin E and eosinophils. Unsupervised clustering analysis identified four immune signatures, representing growth factors (A), type-2/3 cytokines (B), mixed type-1/2/3 cytokines (C), and chemokines (D) that correlated with three distinct disease trajectories. The immune profiles of patients who recovered from moderate COVID-19 were enriched in tissue reparative growth factor signature A, whereas the profiles of those with who developed severe disease had elevated levels of all four signatures. Thus, we have identified a maladapted immune response profile associated with severe COVID-19 and poor clinical outcome, as well as early immune signatures that correlate with divergent disease trajectories.

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  • A longitudinal analysis confirmed an early peak with subsequent decline of IFNα and IFNλ in mild-to-moderate COVID-19, whereas levels further increased particularly during the second week in severe patients.

    “A longitudinal analysis confirmed an early peak with subsequent decline of IFNα and IFNλ in mild-to-moderate COVID-19, whereas levels further increased particularly during the second week in severe patients (Lucas et al., 2020).”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Lucas et al., 2020

  • A current model holds that SARS-CoV-2 enters type II pneumocytes via ACE2, causing rapid replication and a proinflammatory state with elevated IL-1, IL-6, CXCL8, and TNF.

    “SARS-CoV-2 enters type II pneumocytes via ACE2 in the respiratory system leading to rapid virus replication as well as concomitantly to a proinflammatory state with elevated levels of cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, CXCL8, and TNF”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Lucas et al., 2020

  • Other classifiers that incorporated immune mediators were created to forecast death or recovery.

    “Several other classifiers, including immune mediators, (Lucas et al., 2020) were developed for predicting fatality or convalescence”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Lucas et al., 2020

  • pDCs are reduced and functionally impaired in COVID-19, suggesting the lung is a source of elevated plasma type I IFNs early in infection.

    “suggesting the lung as a source for the elevated plasma levels of type I IFNs early on infection”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Lucas et al., 2020

  • Single-cell transcriptomics of circulating innate immune cells supports a general IFN response in all COVID-19 patients with a strong temporal component.

    “Single-cell transcriptomics of circulating innate immune cells strongly support a general IFN response in all COVID-19 patients with a strong temporal component”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Lucas et al., 2020

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Authors
Lucas, C., Wong, P., Klein, J., Castro, T. B. R., Silva, J., Sundaram, M., Ellingson, M. K., Mao, T., Oh, J. E., Israelow, B., Takahashi, T., Tokuyama, M., Lu, P., Venkataraman, A., Park, A., Mohanty, S., Wang, H., Wyllie, A. L., Vogels, C. B. F., Earnest, R., Lapidus, S., Ott, I. M., Moore, A. J., Muenker, M. C., Fournier, J. B., Campbell, M., Odio, C. D., Casanovas-Massana, A., Yale IMPACT Team, Obaid, A., Lu-Culligan, A., Nelson, A., Brito, A., Nunez, A., Martin, A., Watkins, A., Geng, B., Kalinich, C., Harden, C., Todeasa, C., Jensen, C., Kim, D., McDonald, D., Shepard, D., Courchaine, E., White, E. B., Song, E., Silva, E., Kudo, E., DeIuliis, G., Rahming, H., Park, H.-J., Matos, I., Nouws, J., Valdez, J., Fauver, J., Lim, J., Rose, K.-A., Anastasio, K., Brower, K., Glick, L., Sharma, L., Sewanan, L., Knaggs, L., Minasyan, M., Batsu, M., Petrone, M., Kuang, M., Nakahata, M., Campbell, M., Linehan, M., Askenase, M. H., Simonov, M., Smolgovsky, M., Sonnert, N., Naushad, N., Vijayakumar, P., Martinello, R., Datta, R., Handoko, R., Bermejo, S., Prophet, S., Bickerton, S., Velazquez, S., Alpert, T., Rice, T., Khoury-Hanold, W., Peng, X., Yang, Y., Cao, Y., Strong, Y., Herbst, R., Shaw, A. C., Medzhitov, R., Schulz, W. L., Grubaugh, N. D., Dela Cruz, C., Farhadian, S., Ko, A. I., Omer, S. B., & Iwasaki, A.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • Rockefeller University (US)
  • Yale New Haven Hospital (US)
  • Yale Cancer Center (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Iwasaki, Akiko
Venue
Nature
Published
2020-07-27
Volume
584
Issue
7821
Pages
463-469
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W3043831218
Cited by
2,074
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 109 · 2025: 104 · 2024: 220 · 2023: 367 · 2022: 486 · 2021: 630 · 2020: 155
FWCI
53.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Institutes of Health (1s10od026996-01, UL1TR001863)
  • National Institute on Aging (K24AG042489)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM007205)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI127429, T32AI007210, T32AI007517)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
Keywords
severe COVID-19, cytokines, type I interferon response, type 2 cytokines, IL-5, IL-13, immunoglobulin E, eosinophils, innate immune cells, T cell depletion, disease trajectories, immune signatures, chemokines, growth factors, tissue repair, disease outcome
MeSH terms
COVID-19, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Eosinophils, Female, Humans, Immunoglobulin E, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, T-Lymphocytes, Interleukin-5, Cluster Analysis, Cytokines, Coronavirus Infections, Interleukin-13, Viral Load, Young Adult, Pandemics

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