Impact of blood analysis and immune function on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19

Yue-qiang Fu; Yue-lin Sun; Si-wei Lu; Yang Yang; Yi Wang; Feng Xu

Lymphocyte subsets have an important role in humoral and cellular immunity against viral infection. The prognosis of various viral diseases is closely linked to cellular immune function, especially T lymphocyte function. Qin et al. [9] found that number of helper T cells, suppressor T cells and regulatory T cells decreased in patients with COVID-19. Wang et al. [13] reported that CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells, and natural killer (NK) cells decreased in patients with COVID-19, and were significantly lower in severe cases than mild cases. Chen et al. [8] showed that CD4+T and CD8+T cells reduced in nearly all patients with COVID-19, and severe cases had a lower level than moderate cases. In the present study of patients with COVID-19, the baseline median values of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ counts were lower than the lower limit of the normal range. What is more noteworthy is that the CD3+ and CD4+ count levels in the patients who died was significantly lower than that of the survivors. The baseline CD8+, CD19+, and CD16+56+ counts in those who died were also lower compared with the survivors, although the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant.