Down-regulated gene expression spectrum and immune responses changed during the disease progression in COVID-19 patients

Ouyang, Yabo; Yin, Jiming; Wang, Wenjing; Shi, Hongbo; Shi, Ying; Xu, Bin; Qiao, Luxin; Feng, Yingmei; Pang, Lijun; Wei, Feili; Guo, Xianghua; Jin, Ronghua; Chen, Dexi

BACKGROUND: WHO characterizes novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a pandemic. Here, we investigated the clinical, cytokine levels, T cell proportion and related gene expression occurring in COVID-19 patients on admission and after intial treatment. METHODS: 11 patients diagnosed as COVID-19 with similar initial treatment regimen were enrolled in the hospital. Plasma cytokines, CyTOF and microfluidic qPCR for gene expression were conducted. RESULTS: 5 mild and 6 severe patients were included. Cough and fever were the top symptoms in the 11 COVID-2019 cases. The elder age, more neutrophils numbers and higher C-reactive protein level were found in severe cases. IL-10 level was significantly varied with disease progression and treatment. The decreased T cell proportions were observed in COVID-19 patients especially in severe cases, and all elevated to normal in mild patiens after initial treatment but only CD4+T cells return to normal in severe cases. The number of DEGs increased with the disease progress, and decreased after initial treatment. All down-regulated DEGs in severe cases mainly involved in Th17 cell differentiation, cytokine-mediated signaling pathway and T cell activation. After initial treatmen in severe cases, MAP2K7 and SOS1 were upregulated relative to that on admission. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show a decreased T cell proportion with down-regulated gene expression related to T cell activation and differentiation were occurred in COVID-19 severe patients, which may help to provide effective treatment strategies for COVID-19 .