Jouan et al. report reduced frequencies of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells in peripheral blood of critically ill patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS. By contrast, MAIT cells were increased in endotracheal aspirate (ETA) samples, suggesting enhanced recruitment to the airways. Moreover, ETA innate T cells were more activated in samples with higher pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, suggesting that innate T cells contribute to local inflammation. In early COVID-19, the level of MAIT and iNKT cell activation in peripheral blood correlated with preserved lung oxygenation, suggesting that activation status of innate T cells may be predictive of disease severity. Further studies are needed to dissect the potentially ambiguous role of innate T cells in COVID-19.
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Jouan, Y. et al. Functional alteration of innate T cells in critically ill Covid-19 patients. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.03.20089300 (2020)
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van der Heide, V. Innate T cells in COVID-19: friend or foe?. Nat Rev Immunol 20, 407 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-0349-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-0349-7