Department of Medicine

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Browsing Department of Medicine by Author "Abrahams, Fatima"

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    Relationship of SARS-CoV-2–specific CD4 response to COVID-19 severity and impact of HIV-1 and tuberculosis coinfection
    (American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2021-05) Riou, Catherine; Du Bruyn, Elsa; Stek, Cari; Daroowala, Remy; Goliath, Rene T.; Abrahams, Fatima; Said-Hartley, Qonita
    T cells are involved in control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but limited knowledge is available on the relationship between antigen-specific T cell response and disease severity. Here, we used flow cytometry to assess the magnitude, function, and phenotype of SARS coronavirus 2–specific (SARS-CoV-2–specific) CD4+ T cells in 95 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 38 of them being HIV-1 and/or tuberculosis (TB) coinfected, and 38 non–COVID-19 patients. We showed that SARSCoV- 2–specific CD4+ T cell attributes, rather than magnitude, were associated with disease severity, with severe disease being characterized by poor polyfunctional potential, reduced proliferation capacity, and enhanced HLA-DR expression. Moreover, HIV-1 and TB coinfection skewed the SARS-CoV-2 T cell response. HIV-1–mediated CD4+ T cell depletion associated with suboptimal T cell and humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, and a decrease in the polyfunctional capacity of SARSCoV- 2–specific CD4+ T cells was observed in COVID-19 patients with active TB. Our results also revealed that COVID-19 patients displayed reduced frequency of Mycobacterium tuberculosis–specific CD4+ T cells, with possible implications for TB disease progression. These results corroborate the important role of SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells in COVID-19 pathogenesis and support the concept of altered T cell functions in patients with severe disease.