Toward an understanding of regulatory T cells in COVID-19: A systematic review

Mahsa Rahimzadeh; Nadereh Naderi

doi:10.1002/jmv.26891

Toward an understanding of regulatory T cells in COVID-19: A systematic review

J Med Virol. 2021 Jul;93(7):4167-4181. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26891. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Authors

Mahsa Rahimzadeh^{1

2}, Nadereh Naderi³

Affiliations

¹ Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
² Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
³ Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

PMID: 33605463
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26891

Abstract

A more detailed understanding of Treg cells in COVID-19 infection will broaden our knowledge of the COVID-19 immunopathology and give us more insight into the curative immune-based strategies. We systematically searched electronic databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE) and identified 18 eligible studies. Despite the inconsistencies between the results, we observed a trend toward decreasing Treg levels in severe COVID-19 patients. This finding underlines the hypothesis that Tregs play a role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Further studies on Tregs' functional aspects are necessary to illustrate Tregs' potential role in COVID-19 disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; immune response; regulatory T cell.

Publication types

Systematic Review

MeSH terms

CD4 Lymphocyte Count
COVID-19 / immunology*
Cytokines / blood
Humans
SARS-CoV-2 / immunology*
T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / immunology*

Substances

Cytokines