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Comparative Study
. 2020 Jul;81(1):115-120.
doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.001. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

The profile of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and serum cytokines in children with 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia

Hui Li  1 , Kailan Chen  1 , Maochang Liu  2 , Hua Xu  2 , Qiong Xu  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The profile of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and serum cytokines in children with 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia

Hui Li et al. J Infect. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: The study was aimed at investigating the characteristics of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and serum cytokines in children with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia.

Methods: Children with 2019-nCoV pneumonia or with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pneumonia were included. Data including lymphocyte subsets and serum cytokines were collected and analyzed.

Results: 56 patients were included in the study, 40 children with 2019-nCoV pneumonia and 16 children with RSV pneumonia. Compared with children with RSV pneumonia, patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia had higher count of CD3+8+ lymphocyte, higher percentages of CD3+, CD3+8+ lymphocytes and a lower percentage of CD19+ lymphocyte. The serum IL-10 level was significantly higher in children with RSV pneumonia. One 2019-nCoV pneumonia child who was with an obvious increase of IL-10 developed severe pneumonia.

Conclusions: Immune response played a very important role in the development of 2019-nCoV pneumonia. The effective CD8+ T cell response might influence the severity of 2019-nCoV pneumonia. The adaptable change in IL-10 level might contribute to the relatively mild pneumonia symptoms in children with 2019-nCoV pneumonia and bacterial co-infection might be a risk factor of severe 2019-nCoV pneumonia.

Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia; Children; Lymphocyte subsets; Serum cytokines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest No authors have financial interests that could create a conflict of interest about the work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Profile of CD3+CD4+CD8+ and CD4+CD25+ lymphocytes in children with 2019-nCoV pneumonia and children with RSV pneumonia A 2019-nCoV pneumonia children B RSV pneumonia children The variables in group A were normally distributed and were presented as means with standard deviations.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Serum cytokine profile of children with 2019-nCoV pneumonia and children with RSV pneumonia A 2019-nCoV pneumonia children B RSV pneumonia children Serum cytokine values were non-normally distributed and were presented as medians with inter-quartile range (IQR) and compared with Mann–Whitney U test. ***p = 0.003.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The fluctuation of CRP, PCT, lymphocyte subsets and serum cytokine concentrations of the child with severe 2019-nCoV pneumonia The blood samples for the detection were collected on day1, day2, day4, day5, day9, day11, day14 and day16 after admission to hospital.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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