Regulatory T cells in COVID-19

Huan Wang; Zhao Wang; Wen Cao; Qianqian Wu; Yujia Yuan; Xiangjian Zhang

doi:10.14336/AD.2021.0709

Regulatory T cells in COVID-19

Aging Dis. 2021 Oct 1;12(7):1545-1553. doi: 10.14336/AD.2021.0709. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Huan Wang¹, Zhao Wang¹, Wen Cao¹, Qianqian Wu¹, Yujia Yuan¹, Xiangjian Zhang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Neurology, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, China.
² 2Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, China.
³ 3Hebei Vascular Homeostasis Key Laboratory for Neurology, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, China.

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which leads to the disruption of immune system, exacerbated inflammation, and even multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are an important subpopulation of T cells that exert immunosuppressive effects. Recent studies have demonstrated that the number of Tregs is significantly reduced in COVID-19 patients, and this reduction may affect COVID-19 patients on several aspects, such as weakening the effect of inflammatory inhibition, causing an imbalance in Treg/Th17 ratio, and increasing the risk of respiratory failure. Treg-targeted therapy may alleviate the symptoms and retard disease progression in COVID-19 patients. This study highlights the recent findings on the involvement of Tregs in the regulation of immune responses to COVID-19, and we hope to provide novel perspectives on the alternative immunotherapeutic strategies for this disease that is currently prevalent worldwide.

Keywords: COVID-19; Regulatory T cells; SARS-CoV-2; immune responses; inflammation.