AUTHOR=Fenninger Franz , Sherwood Karen R. , Wu Vivian , Wong Paaksum , DeMarco Mari L. , Wang Meng , Benedicto Vincent , Dwarka Krishna A. , Günther Oliver P. , Tate Logan , Yoshida Eric , Keown Paul A. , Kadatz Matthew , Lan James H. 

TITLE=Comprehensive immune profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infected kidney transplant patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Transplantation

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/transplantation/articles/10.3389/frtra.2023.1261023

DOI=10.3389/frtra.2023.1261023

ISSN=2813-2440

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The immune responses of kidney transplant recipients against SARS-CoV-2 remains under studied.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this prospective pilot study, we performed comprehensive immune profiling using cellular, proteomic, and serologic assays on a cohort of 9 kidney transplant recipients and 12 non-transplant individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Our data show that in addition to having reduced SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody levels, kidney transplant recipients exhibited significant cellular differences including a decrease in naïve—but increase in effector T cells, a high number of CD28+ CD4 effector memory T cells, and increased CD8 T memory stem cells compared with non-transplant patients. Furthermore, transplant patients had lower concentrations of serum cytokine MIP-1β as well as a less diverse T cell receptor repertoire.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Overall, our results show that compared to non-transplant patients, kidney transplant recipients with SARS-CoV-2 infection exhibit an immunophenotype that is reminiscent of the immune signature observed in patients with severe COVID-19.</p></sec>