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. 2024 Dec 17;135(4):e188182.
doi: 10.1172/JCI188182.

Long COVID is associated with lower percentages of mature, cytotoxic NK cell phenotypes

Tasha Tsao, Amanda M Buck, Lilian Grimbert, Brian H LaFranchi, Belen Altamirano Poblano, Emily A Fehrman, Thomas Dalhuisen, Priscilla Y Hsue, J Daniel Kelly, Jeffrey N Martin, Steven G Deeks, Peter W Hunt, Michael J Peluso, Oscar A Aguilar, Timothy J Henrich

Long COVID is associated with lower percentages of mature, cytotoxic NK cell phenotypes

Tasha Tsao et al. J Clin Invest. .
No abstract available

Keywords: Immunology; Infectious disease; Innate immunity; NK cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Relationships between NK cell phenotypes and long COVID.
(A–G) Age (A), the percentage of male and female participants (B), the number of symptoms (sx) during acute infection (C), mean SARS-CoV-2 total anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG levels (D), along with percentages of total CD56+ NK cells (E), CD56dim/CD16+ NK cells (F), and CD56dim NK cells expressing KIR2D (L1/S1/S3/S5) (G) approximately 4 months following acute infection in those with long COVID (LC) and those who fully recovered. (H and I) Spearman’s correlation analysis of CD56dim/CD16+ NK cell percentages and the number of LC symptoms (H), and the percentage of CD56dim/CD16+ NK cells in participants with neurocognitive (neuro), gastrointestinal (GI), fatigue, and cardiopulmonary (CP) LC (I) are shown. (J and K) CD56dim/CD16+ NK cell percentages in male and female participants (J) and repeat CD56dim/CD16+ comparisons, including only female participants (K). (L and M) NK cell cluster UMAP (L) and the percentage of adaptive NK cell clusters by LC symptom group, CMV IgG serostatus, and presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2 spike or nucleocapsid antigen in blood after COVID-19 (M). Mean (bars) and 95% confidence intervals are shown. P values are from 2-tailed Mann-Whitney U testing (I, J, and M) or Kruskal-Wallis testing (C, F, G, and K).
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