Clinical significance of cellular immunity function and inflammatory factors assays in alveolar lavage fluid for severe COVID-19 pneumonia

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to investigate the changes of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+) and inflammatory factors (interleukin-6 [IL-6], hypersensitive C-reactive protein [HS-CRP], and procalcitonin [PCT]) of alveolar lavage fluid in patients with severe corona virus-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia and their clinical impact on the assessment of disease severity and prognosis. Twenty-four patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Ezhou Central Hospital from February 1 to March 22, 2020. According to the 28-day prognosis, they were assigned to a death group and a survival group. On the 3rd day of ICU admission, peripheral blood and alveolar lavage fluid were collected for examination of lymphocyte subsets and inflammatory factors by flow cytometry and immunoturbidimetry, respectively. The CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ cell counts in alveolar lavage fluid and serum were significantly higher in the survival group than those of the death group (p