ArticleBlood advances2020
Impaired natural killer cell counts and cytolytic activity in patients with severe COVID-19.
Article in Blood advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identification of Parameters Representative of Immune Dysfunction in Patients with Severe and Fatal COVID-19 Infection: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2023Pooled it
- Immunomodulatory role of Nanocurcumin in COVID-19 patients with dropped natural killer cells frequency and function.European journal of pharmacology · 2022Trial
- The Natural Killer Cell Landscape in the Natural History of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome in a Chilean Cohort.Viruses · 2026Article
- Whey Proteins and Immunity: Mechanisms Underlying Immune System Reinforcement and Protection Against Viral and Bacterial Infections.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Immune-Based Biomarkers as Predictors of Mortality in ECMO Therapy for Severe COVID-19 ARDS: Insights from a Retrospective Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Observational
- Interferon-mediated NK cell activation increases cytolytic activity against T follicular helper cells and limits antibody response to SARS-CoV-2.Nature immunology · 2025Article
- Article
- Blood Transcriptome Profiling Highlights the Role of Intestinal Bacterial Translocation in Severe COVID-19.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Complex causal relationships between genetic predictions of 731 immune cell phenotypes and novel coronavirus: A two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2025Article
- KLRB1 expression in nasopharyngeal mucosa as a prognostic biomarker in COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Soluble SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein: considering some potential pathogenic effects.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- The innate immune response in SARS-CoV2 infection: focus on toll-like receptor 4 in severe disease outcomes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Distinct immunity dynamics of natural killer cells in mild and moderate COVID-19 cases during the Omicron variant phase.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Observational
- Expression of metabolic genes in NK cells is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19: a brief report.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Comprehensive snapshots of natural killer cells functions, signaling, molecular mechanisms and clinical utilization.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- An altered natural killer cell immunophenotype characterizes clinically severe pediatric RSV infection.Science translational medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- NK-cell receptor modulation in viral infections.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2024Review
- Immunophenotype of lymphocytes and real-world outcome of COVID-19 infection in children with hematology and oncology.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Biobran/MGN-3, an Arabinoxylan Rice Bran, Exerts Anti-COVID-19 Effects and Boosts Immunity in Human Subjects.Nutrients · 2024Article
30 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
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-driven coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused unprecedented human death and has seriously threatened the global economy. Early data suggest a surge in proinflammatory cytokines in patients with severe COVID-19, which has been associated with poor outcomes. We recently postulated that the inflammatory response in patients with severe COVID-19 disease is not inhibited by natural killer (NK) cells, resulting in a "cytokine storm." Here, we assessed the NK-cell functional activity and the associated cytokines and soluble mediators in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Significantly impaired NK-cell counts and cytolytic activity were observed in COVID-19 patients when compared with healthy controls. Also, cytokines like interleukin 12 (IL12), IL15, and IL21 that are important for NK-cell activity were not detected systematically. Serum concentrations of soluble CD25 (sCD25)/soluble IL2 receptor α (sIL2-Rα) were significantly elevated and were inversely correlated with the percentage of NK cells. Impaired NK-cell cytolytic activity together with other laboratory trends including elevated sCD25 were consistent with a hyperinflammatory state in keeping with macrophage-activation syndrome. Our findings suggest that impaired counts and cytolytic activity of NK cells are important characteristics of severe COVID-19 and can potentially facilitate strategies for immunomodulatory therapies.
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