ArticleJCI insight2020
Severe immunosuppression and not a cytokine storm characterizes COVID-19 infections.
Article in JCI insight, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 208 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
208 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 321 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comprehensive adjusted outcome data are needed to assess the impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients with COVID-19: Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.Reviews in medical virology · 2022Pooled it
- Management of hospitalised adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a European Respiratory Society living guideline.The European respiratory journal · 2021Guideline
- Cytokine elevation in severe and critical COVID-19: a rapid systematic review, meta-analysis, and comparison with other inflammatory syndromes.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2020Pooled it
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of IL-7 in critically ill patients with COVID-19.JCI insight · 2025Trial
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of intravenous alpha-1 antitrypsin for ARDS secondary to COVID-19.Med (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Trial
- Group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 is associated with the pathobiology leading to COVID-19 mortality.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2021Trial
- Longitudinal assessment of IFN-I activity and immune profile in critically ill COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.Critical care (London, England) · 2021Trial
- Clinical and Immunological Factors That Distinguish COVID-19 From Pandemic Influenza A(H1N1).Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- Monocytes in pneumonia: Functional plasticity and innate memory (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Caspase-11-mediated hyperinflammation impairs CD8+ T cell immunity and viral clearance in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Spatial multiomics dissects the SARS-CoV-2-induced disruption of cell adhesion and immune dynamics in the human hippocampus.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- The role of corticosteroids in severe viral pneumonia: lessons from COVID-19 and influenza.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2026Review
- Airway immunometabolic responses during pulmonary bacterial and viral infections.Cell reports · 2025Review
- Prognosis of critically ill immunocompromised patients with COVID-19 admitted for acute respiratory failure: a retrospective propensity score analysis.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- Differentiation of the Cytokine Profile Modified by SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza Virus in an In Vitro Experiment.Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine · 2025Article
- Post-COVID-19 tuberculosis in southeastern Spain: incidence, risk factors and the role of latent tuberculosis infection screening.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2025Article
- Potential of interleukin-7 in sepsis as a biomarker and therapeutic agent: a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Tracking immune dysregulation in COVID-19: lymphocyte dynamics from hospitalization to recovery.Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologica · 2025Article
- Programmed cell death markers in COVID-19 survivors with and without sepsis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Prognostic Value of Peripheral Blood nCD64 Index, mHLA-DR, and CD14Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
148 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality have been attributed to a pathologic host response. Two divergent hypotheses have been proposed: hyperinflammatory cytokine storm; and failure of host protective immunity that results in unrestrained viral dissemination and organ injury. A key explanation for the inability to address this controversy has been the lack of diagnostic tools to evaluate immune function in COVID-19 infections. ELISpot, a highly sensitive, functional immunoassay, was employed in 27 patients with COVID-19, 51 patients with sepsis, 18 critically ill nonseptic (CINS) patients, and 27 healthy control volunteers to evaluate adaptive and innate immune status by quantitating T cell IFN-ɣ and monocyte TFN-α production. Circulating T cell subsets were profoundly reduced in COVID-19 patients. Additionally, stimulated blood mononuclear cells produced less than 40%-50% of the IFN-ɣ and TNF-α observed in septic and CINS patients, consistent with markedly impaired immune effector cell function. Approximately 25% of COVID-19 patients had increased IL-6 levels that were not associated with elevations in other canonical proinflammatory cytokines. Collectively, these findings support the hypothesis that COVID-19 suppresses host functional adaptive and innate immunity. Importantly, IL-7 administered ex vivo restored T cell IFN-ɣ production in COVID-19 patients. Thus, ELISpot may functionally characterize host immunity in COVID-19 and inform prospective therapies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.