Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar:104:315-319.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.051. Epub 2020 Dec 21.

EBV DNA increase in COVID-19 patients with impaired lymphocyte subpopulation count

Stefania Paolucci  1 , Irene Cassaniti  1 , Federica Novazzi  1 , Loretta Fiorina  2 , Antonio Piralla  1 , Giuditta Comolli  3 , Raffaele Bruno  4 , Renato Maserati  5 , Roberto Gulminetti  5 , Stefano Novati  5 , Francesco Mojoli  6 , Fausto Baldanti  7 ; San Matteo Pavia COVID-19 Task Force
Collaborators, Affiliations

EBV DNA increase in COVID-19 patients with impaired lymphocyte subpopulation count

Stefania Paolucci et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: The immunologic profile and opportunistic viral DNA increase were monitored in Italian patients with COVID-19 in order to identify markers of disease severity.

Methods: A total of 104 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated in the study. Of them, 42/104 (40.4%) were hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) and 62/104(59.6%) in a sub-intensive care unit (SICU). Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Parvovirus B19 and Human Herpesvirus 6 virus reactivations were determined by real-time PCR, and lymphocyte subpopulation counts were determined by flow cytometry.

Results: Among opportunistic viruses, only EBV was consistently detected. EBV DNA was observed in 40/42 (95.2%) of the ICU patients and in 51/61 (83.6%) of the SICU patients. Comparing the two groups of patients, the EBV DNA median level among ICU patients was significantly higher than that observed in SICU patients. In parallel, a significant reduction of CD8 T cell and NK count in ICU patients as compared with SICU patients was observed (p<0.05). In contrast, B cell count was significantly increased in ICU patients (p=0.0172).

Conclusions: A correlation between reduced CD8+ T cells and NK counts, EBV DNA levels and COVID-19 severity was observed. Other opportunistic viral infections were not observed. The relationship between EBV load and COVID-19 severity should be further evaluated in longitudinal studies.

Keywords: COVID-19; EBV DNA; Lymphocyte subpopulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
EBV DNA was measured in 42 COVID19-positive patients in ICU (black dots) and in 62 COVID19-positive patients in SICU (white dots). Median and IQR are shown and p-value was given in the graph.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Lymphocyte subpopulation counts were compared in the 42 patients of the Intensive Care Unit (grey bars) and in the 62 patients of the Infectious Disease Department (white bars). The p-value was measured by the Mann Whitney test and was given for each group of comparison; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
EBV DNA load was correlated to B cell count (a), CD8 + T cell count (b) and NK count (c); r (Remuzzi and Remuzzi, 2020) and p value were calculated using Spearman’s correlation test and results were given in each graph.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/protocol-v2-1.pdf.
    1. Baldanti F., Gatti M., Furione M., Paolucci S., Tinelli C., Comoli P. Kinetics of Epstein-Barr virus DNA load in different blood compartments of pediatric recipients of T-cell-depleted HLA-haploidentical stem cell transplantation. J ClinMicrobiol. 2008;46:3672–3677. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cantan B., Luyt C.E., Martin-Loeches I. Influenza Infections and Emergent Viral Infections in Intensive Care Unit. SeminRespirCrit Care Med. 2019;40:488–497. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen G., Wu D., Guo W., Cao Y., Huang D., Wang H. Clinical and immunologic features in severe and moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019. J Clin Invest. 2020 pii: 137244. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Corcoran C., Hardie D., Yeats J., Smuts H. Genetic variants of human parvovirus B19 in South Africa: cocirculation of three genotypes and identification of a novel subtype of genotype 1. J ClinMicrobiol. 2010;48:137–142. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms