Expression of IFN-Gamma is significantly reduced during severity of covid-19 infection in hospitalized patients

PLoS One. 2023 Sep 27;18(9):e0291332. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291332. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Cytokines play an important role in SARS-CoV-2 infection progression and severity. A number of inflammatory cytokines have been directly associated with disease severity including IL-6 (interleukin-6), IL-10, TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor alpha), IFN-γ (interferon-gamma). Here, in this study, the aim was to better understand the interplay between host immune response mediated by cytokines and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection by assessing cytokine expression. Therefore, we measured expression levels of a total of 12 genes (IFNA-1, IFN-γ, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-11, IL-13, IL-15, and IL-27) encoding inflammatory, anti-inflammatory and regulatory cytokines using QRT-PCR in hospitalized patients with severe infection compared to mildly infected. IFN-γ was identified as a potent marker of disease severity as indicated previously. Moreover, levels of IL-7 were also found to be partially reduced in patients compared to the healthy controls and linked negatively to disease severity. Identification of these cytokines may be helpful in not only understanding disease pathogenesis but also in better management of the patients after covid infection.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Cytokines
  • Humans
  • Interferon-gamma* / genetics
  • Interleukin-10
  • Interleukin-6
  • Interleukin-7
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Substances

  • Interferon-gamma
  • Interleukin-10
  • Interleukin-6
  • Interleukin-7
  • Cytokines
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Grants and funding

Recipient of award/grant: Atika Mansoor Grant # IBGE/IEC/17/02/21 Funder: Institute of Biomedical and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) URL: https://hii-project.weebly.com/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.