Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Immune Monitoring in Critical Care Patients Using Whole Blood Assays
Published on: September 20, 2024
T cell response in patients with COVID-19
Lian Liu1, Ling Xu1, Chen Lin2
1Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Abstract:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was the third zoonotic coronavirus to have an outbreak in the first two decades of the 21st century. Human-to-human transmission of this virus has threatened thousands of lives around the world. SARS-CoV-2 shares 79% and 50% sequence homology with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), respectively. Like SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infection, evidence has shown that SARS-CoV-2 infection also causes acute tissue damage due to a pathological immune response, particularly in severe cases. T cells play an important role in virus clearance and prevention, and in this paper, we summarize dynamic changes in the T cell count, subsets, phenotype, and function in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients based on current clinical reports. This review may help to better understand the pathological immune response of T cells and facilitate making better therapeutic strategies for patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Related Concept Videos
Immune Response Against Viral Pathogens
NK Cells
NK cells are a crucial part of our innate immune system, acting as the first line of defense against viral infections. These cells can recognize and kill infected cells without prior exposure to the virus, effectively slowing down the spread of infection. Additionally, NK cells produce proinflammatory...
T Cell Types and Functions
Th1 cells stimulate dendritic cells to express necessary co-stimulatory molecules on their surfaces for...
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
Cell-mediated Immune Responses
Cells of the Adaptive Immune Response

