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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. T Cell Biology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1513939
This article is part of the Research Topic The Function and Regulation of T Cell Subsets in Inflammatory Disease View all 4 articles

Identification of circulating Tfh/Th subsets as a biomarker of developed hospital-acquired pneumonia

Provisionally accepted
Yuan Peng Yuan Peng 1Tao Tao Tao Tao 1Ni-Wen Yu Ni-Wen Yu 1Chenyang Xu Chenyang Xu 1CHENG CHEN CHENG CHEN 2*
  • 1 First People's Hospital of Kunshan, Kunshan, China
  • 2 Departmemt of Respiratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: This study aimed to explore the possible value of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells in hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP).Methods: Flow cytometry was used to measure circulating Tfh and helper T cell (Th) cells in 62 HAP patients and 16 healthy individuals. HAP patients were further categorized into uncontrolled and controlled groups, in accordance with relevant guidelines. Subgroup analyses were additionally conducted based on the pathogen and the presence of bloodstream infections (BSIs) and the incidence of septic shock. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and ROC analysis were performed to estimate the prognostic value of the combination of Tfh/Th ratios and PCT levels.The Tfh/Th ratio was notably higher in uncontrolled HAP patients than in controls (P<0.05). Specifically, either the Klebsiella pneumoniae (K.p) -positive HAP or BSIs subgroups or septic shock subgroups showed significantly increased Tfh/Th ratios (P<0.05). PCT level in BSIs and septic shock subgroups was significantly increased. However, there were no significant differences in PCT level between K.p-infected and non-K.p-infected patients. So, the Tfh/Th ratio is a good supplement to PCT for distinguishing between the K.p and non-K.p groups. The Tfh/Th ratio also demonstrated a strong correlation with procalcitonin (PCT) levels (P<0.05). Accordingly, the combination of Tfh/Th and PCT could serve as a more effective predictive marker for HAP deterioration and survival prediction. HAP patients with a high Tfh/Th ratio along with high PCT levels had a lower 28-day survival rate.The circulating Tfh/Th ratio, instrumental in gauging the severity of patients with HAP, could be employed as a prognostic biomarker for HAP.

    Keywords: Hospital-acquired pneumonia, Tfh cell, Th, prognosis, PCT

    Received: 19 Oct 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Peng, Tao, Yu, Xu and CHEN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: CHENG CHEN, Departmemt of Respiratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.