Increased B‐cell activity with consumption of activated monocytes in severe COVID‐19 patients

Kos, Igor; Balensiefer, Benedikt; Lesan, Vadim; Kaddu‐Mulindwa, Dominic; Thurner, Lorenz; Christofyllakis, Konstantin; Bittenbring, Joerg Thomas; Ahlgrimm, Manfred; Seiffert, Martina; Wagenpfeil, Stefan; Bewarder, Yvonne; Neumann, Frank; Rixecker, Torben; Smola, Sigrun; Link, Andreas; Krawczyk, Marcin; Lammert, Frank; Lepper, Philipp M.; Bals, Robert; Stilgenbauer, Stephan; Bewarder, Moritz

The pathogenesis of autoimmune complications triggered by SARS‐CoV2 has not been completely elucidated. Here, we performed an analysis of the cellular immune status, cell ratios, and monocyte populations of patients with COVID‐19 treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) (cohort 1, N = 23) and normal care unit (NCU) (cohort 2, n = 10) compared with control groups: patients treated in ICU for noninfectious reasons (cohort 3, n = 30) and patients treated in NCU for infections other than COVID‐19 (cohort 4, n = 21). Patients in cohort 1 presented significant differences in comparison with the other cohorts, including reduced frequencies of lymphocytes, reduced CD8+T‐cell count, reduced percentage of activated and intermediate monocytes and an increased B/T8 cell ratio. Over time, patients in cohort 1 who died presented with lower counts of B, T, CD4(+)T, CD8(+)T‐lymphocytes, NK cells, and activated monocytes. The B/T8 ratio was significantly lower in the group of survivors. In cohort 1, significantly higher levels of IgG1 and IgG3 were found, whereas cohort 3 presented higher levels of IgG3 compared to controls. Among many immune changes, an elevated B/T8‐cell ratio and a reduced rate of activated monocytes were mainly observed in patients with severe COVID‐19. Both parameters were associated with death in cohort 1.