AUTHOR=Barbati Cristiana , Celia Alessandra Ida , Colasanti Tania , Vomero Marta , Speziali Mariangela , Putro Erisa , Buoncuore Giorgia , Savino Flavia , Colafrancesco Serena , Ucci Federica Maria , Ciancarella Claudia , Balbinot Eugenia , Scarpa Susanna , Natalucci Francesco , Pellegrino Greta , Ceccarelli Fulvia , Spinelli Francesca Romana , Mastroianni Claudio Maria , Conti Fabrizio , Alessandri Cristiano TITLE=Autophagy Hijacking in PBMC From COVID-19 Patients Results in Lymphopenia JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.903498 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.903498 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Autophagy is a homeostatic process responsible for the self-digestion of intracellular components and antimicrobial defense by inducing the degradation of pathogens into autophagolysosomes. Recent findings suggest an involvement of this process in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, the role of autophagy in the immunological mechanisms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis remains largely unexplored. This study reveals the presence of autophagy defects in peripheral immune cells from COVID-19 patients. The impairment of the autophagy process resulted in a higher percentage of lymphocytes undergoing apoptosis in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the inverse correlation between autophagy markers levels and peripheral lymphocyte counts in COVID-19 patients confirms how a defect in autophagy might contribute to lymphopenia, causing a reduction in the activation of viral defense. These results provided intriguing data that could help in understanding the cellular underlying mechanisms in COVID-19 infection, especially in severe forms.