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Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients

Dysregulation of immune response was observed in COVID-19 patients. Thymosin alpha 1 (Tα1) is used in the management of COVID-19, because it is known to restore the homeostasis of the immune system during infections and cancers. We aim to observe the longitudinal changes in T lymphocyte subsets and...

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Autores principales: Wang, Zhenyan, Chen, Jun, Zhu, Cuiyun, Liu, Li, Qi, Tangkai, Shen, Yinzhong, Zhang, Yuyi, Xu, Lie, Li, Tao, Qian, Zhiping, Steinhart, Corklin R., Lu, Hongzhou
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8209490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34149679
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.568789
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author Wang, Zhenyan
Chen, Jun
Zhu, Cuiyun
Liu, Li
Qi, Tangkai
Shen, Yinzhong
Zhang, Yuyi
Xu, Lie
Li, Tao
Qian, Zhiping
Steinhart, Corklin R.
Lu, Hongzhou
author_facet Wang, Zhenyan
Chen, Jun
Zhu, Cuiyun
Liu, Li
Qi, Tangkai
Shen, Yinzhong
Zhang, Yuyi
Xu, Lie
Li, Tao
Qian, Zhiping
Steinhart, Corklin R.
Lu, Hongzhou
author_sort Wang, Zhenyan
collection PubMed
description Dysregulation of immune response was observed in COVID-19 patients. Thymosin alpha 1 (Tα1) is used in the management of COVID-19, because it is known to restore the homeostasis of the immune system during infections and cancers. We aim to observe the longitudinal changes in T lymphocyte subsets and to evaluate the efficacy of Tα1 for COVID-19. A retrospective study was conducted in 275 COVID-19 patients admitted to Shanghai public health clinical center. The clinical and laboratory characteristics between patients with different T lymphocyte phenotypes and those who were and were not treated with Tα1 were compared. Among the 275 patients, 137 (49.8%) were males, and the median age was 51 years [interquartile range (IQR): 37-64]. A total of 126 patients received Tα1 therapy and 149 patients did not. There were 158 (57.5%) patients with normal baseline CD4 counts (median:631/μL, IQR: 501~762) and 117 patients (42.5%) with decreased baseline CD4 counts (median:271/μL, IQR: 201~335). In those with decreased baseline CD4 counts, more patients were older (p<0.001), presented as critically ill (p=0.032) and had hypertension (p=0.008) compared with those with normal CD4 counts. There was no statistical difference in the duration of virus shedding in the upper respiratory tract between the two groups (p=0.214). In both the normal (14 vs 11, p=0.028) and the decreased baseline CD4 counts group (15 vs 11, p=0.008), duration of virus clearance in the patients with Tα1 therapy was significantly longer than that in those without Tα1 therapy. There was no significant difference in the increase of CD4+ (286 vs 326, p=0.851) and CD8+ T cell (154 vs 170, p=0.842) counts in the recovery period between the two groups with or without Tα1 therapy. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that severity of illness (p<0.001) and Tα1 therapy (p=0.001) were associated with virus clearance. In conclusion, reduction of CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell counts were observed in COVID-19 patients. Tα1 may have no benefit on restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts or on the virus clearance. The use of Tα1 for COVID-19 need to be more fully investigated.
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spelling pubmed-82094902021-06-18 Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients Wang, Zhenyan Chen, Jun Zhu, Cuiyun Liu, Li Qi, Tangkai Shen, Yinzhong Zhang, Yuyi Xu, Lie Li, Tao Qian, Zhiping Steinhart, Corklin R. Lu, Hongzhou Front Immunol Immunology Dysregulation of immune response was observed in COVID-19 patients. Thymosin alpha 1 (Tα1) is used in the management of COVID-19, because it is known to restore the homeostasis of the immune system during infections and cancers. We aim to observe the longitudinal changes in T lymphocyte subsets and to evaluate the efficacy of Tα1 for COVID-19. A retrospective study was conducted in 275 COVID-19 patients admitted to Shanghai public health clinical center. The clinical and laboratory characteristics between patients with different T lymphocyte phenotypes and those who were and were not treated with Tα1 were compared. Among the 275 patients, 137 (49.8%) were males, and the median age was 51 years [interquartile range (IQR): 37-64]. A total of 126 patients received Tα1 therapy and 149 patients did not. There were 158 (57.5%) patients with normal baseline CD4 counts (median:631/μL, IQR: 501~762) and 117 patients (42.5%) with decreased baseline CD4 counts (median:271/μL, IQR: 201~335). In those with decreased baseline CD4 counts, more patients were older (p<0.001), presented as critically ill (p=0.032) and had hypertension (p=0.008) compared with those with normal CD4 counts. There was no statistical difference in the duration of virus shedding in the upper respiratory tract between the two groups (p=0.214). In both the normal (14 vs 11, p=0.028) and the decreased baseline CD4 counts group (15 vs 11, p=0.008), duration of virus clearance in the patients with Tα1 therapy was significantly longer than that in those without Tα1 therapy. There was no significant difference in the increase of CD4+ (286 vs 326, p=0.851) and CD8+ T cell (154 vs 170, p=0.842) counts in the recovery period between the two groups with or without Tα1 therapy. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that severity of illness (p<0.001) and Tα1 therapy (p=0.001) were associated with virus clearance. In conclusion, reduction of CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell counts were observed in COVID-19 patients. Tα1 may have no benefit on restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts or on the virus clearance. The use of Tα1 for COVID-19 need to be more fully investigated. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8209490/ /pubmed/34149679 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.568789 Text en Copyright © 2021 Wang, Chen, Zhu, Liu, Qi, Shen, Zhang, Xu, Li, Qian, Steinhart and Lu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Wang, Zhenyan
Chen, Jun
Zhu, Cuiyun
Liu, Li
Qi, Tangkai
Shen, Yinzhong
Zhang, Yuyi
Xu, Lie
Li, Tao
Qian, Zhiping
Steinhart, Corklin R.
Lu, Hongzhou
Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title_full Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title_fullStr Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title_full_unstemmed Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title_short Thymosin Alpha-1 Has no Beneficial Effect on Restoring CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocyte Counts in COVID-19 Patients
title_sort thymosin alpha-1 has no beneficial effect on restoring cd4+ and cd8+ t lymphocyte counts in covid-19 patients
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8209490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34149679
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.568789
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